A law that would ban hemp flowers in Italy could wipe out more than CBD and smokable hemp, according to a lawyer who represents cannabis interests.
Attorney Giacomo Bulleri issued that stark warning after a Parliamentary committee recently approved an amendment to existing law enforcement legislation, setting up votes by both houses of Italy’s lawmaking body, most likely in September.
A joint committee on Constitutional Affairs and Justice of the Chamber of Deputies, the Parliament’s lower house, recently passed the amendment, which could make violations subject to harsh criminal penalties under the country’s 2023 Security Law.
Targeting ‘cannabis light’
Bulleri suggested that the amendment would block not only CBD and smokable hemp – low-THC buds known as “cannabis light” that have become highly popular in Italy – but could also outlaw industrial applications.
“The newspapers talk about ‘cannabis light,’ but under this law, all industrial hemp becomes a narcotic, because how can you tell the difference?” Bulleri asked. “Even if I want to produce oil from seed, or fiber, or hurd, the apical part of any hemp plant still produces a flower which, when the law is approved, will become illegal, because it is considered a narcotic.”
The proposed amendment would ban hemp flowers from “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 measure would effectively shut down all commercial activity involving hemp flowers – even those with low or no THC content.
Wiping out CBD
If enacted, the law would entirely block the hemp extract subsector, affecting CBD and other non-psychoactive hemp cannabinoids used in herbal medicine, cosmetics and food supplements. Italian hemp stakeholders have warned that passage of the amendment would bring the closure of 3,000 businesses and idle 15,000 workers.
Italy’s sweeping – and controversial – Security Bill strengthens law enforcement’s powers and creates criminal penalties that could be applied to violations of the hemp amendment.
Ignoring the EU
In a legally binding ruling applicable across the European Union, 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 are under the EU THC limit of 0.3% or less. The ruling was based on a celebrated European Union Court of Justice finding to that effect made earlier in the same year.
However, that has not stopped Italian officials from repeatedly taking aim at CBD and other cannabinoids as well as “cannabis light”.
Back and forth
In October 2020, the Ministry of Health classified CBD as a narcotic and banned the compound from the Italian market, instructing retailers to liquidate their stocks – only to rescind the order ten days later.
In early 2022, the State-Regions Conference – a platform for dialogue and cooperation between the 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.