Six Italian cannabis groups have launched a petition aimed at reversing a domestic ban on hemp flowers, and at least one political party has taken up their fight in Brussels.
The ban, if approved, would have a devastating effect on supply chains that make and sell CBD-based products in the cosmetics, dietary supplements and herbal medicine sectors, opponents have said.
European Parliament members (MEPs) from Italy’s 5-Star Movement (M5S) political party have called on the European Commission to intervene, arguing that the ban contradicts EU laws on the free movement of goods and the non-narcotic status of CBD as established by a 2020 EU court ruling.
Sweeping prohibition
The measure would effectively shut down all commercial activity involving hemp flowers – even those with low or no THC content – by banning the “import, processing, possession, transfer, distribution, trade, transport, dispatch, delivery, sale to the public and for consumption, even in semi-finished, dried or shredded form.”
“The (Prime Minister Giorgia) Meloni government is ignoring European regulations and putting as many as 800 companies specializing in the cultivation of hemp and another 1,500 involved in its processing at risk of closure,” said M5S MEP Valentina Palmisano.
The petition against the ban, launched by Imprenditori Canapa Italia, Sardinia Cannabis, Resilienza Italia Onlus, Canapa Sativa Italia, Federcanapa and Canapa delle Marche, asks the government to immediately withdraw the amendment and “start a constructive dialogue with industry associations to develop balanced and sustainable regulation for the industrial hemp supply chain.”
EU ruling is firm
In a ruling applicable across the EU, the European Commission declared in 2020 that CBD is not a narcotic and may be legally traded in and among member states. Raw hemp flowers may also be traded if they meet the EU THC limit of 0.3% or less, according to the judgment.
The M5S delegation signed on to a formal question put before the European Commission, suggesting the ban “raise(s) problems with EU law, as well as with case law that prohibits preventing the sale of legal CBD without evidence of risk to public health,” and called for intervention “as soon as possible.”
The Commission has asked for responses from the Directorates-General of Agriculture and Health. The agriculture body reportedly already has the issue under an “in-depth review” after several trade associations submitted a complaint in June.
Threat of harsh penalties
The amendment carrying the ban would be added to the country’s 2023 Security Law, a sweeping measure that strengthens police agency powers and creates harsh criminal penalties that could be applied to violations of the ban. The measure is expected to be taken up after the Italian Parliament’s summer recess.
Until that time, a decree that came into effect on August 5 restricts the sale of CBD products intended to be taken orally to pharmacies, via prescriptions that are non-repeatable.
Hemp flowers have come under attack in Italy since at least early 2022, when the State-Regions Conference – a platform for cooperation among central and regional governments – updated language in a 2018 decree to classify hemp as strictly a medicinal plant. Four cannabis associations filed suit, and the decree was annulled one year later by the Regional Administrative Tribunal of Lazio, which ruled it went against European law.
While M5S – which supports hard-left issues – is a natural ally of the cannabis industry, even the right-leaning party Forza Italia, part of the coalition now in power, has questioned Italy’s hardline stance on hemp flowers, with MEP Flavio Tosi urging the government to “get out of the ideological logic of absolute prohibitions.”