Italy’s Supreme Court now protects the cultivation of small amounts of cannabis grown in people’s homes.
Over the holidays, the Italian Supreme Court ruled that it was legal to grow small amounts of marijuana at home for personal use. The court declared that narcotics laws should exclude “small amounts grown domestically for the exclusive use of the grower.”
According to the Independent, the ruling was approved on December 19, but it wasn’t announced until after Christmas. It has predictably caused outrage from conservative political parties and support from cannabis advocates.
“Drugs cause harm, forget about growing them or buying them in shops,” said Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League Party. Before leaving office in August, Salvini had been one of the most vocal opponents of cannabis, pushing for the closure of legal weed shops and looking to ban “light cannabis” products, which contain levels of THC below 0.6%.
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Luca Fiorentino, founder of cannabis supply company Cannabidiol Distribution, expressed his relief and support of the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of cannabis users. “It’s the end of a nightmare,” he said. “After Salvini’s witch hunt I had to fire 10 people and I lost 68% of my revenues.”
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In Italy, the use of medicinal and industrial marijuana was legalized three years ago, but growing and cultivating the plant remained illegal. The Supreme Court’s ruling is credited to a recent case where a man was prosecuted due to the cultivation of two cannabis plants.
Although the Supreme Court’s ruling doesn’t specify what “small-scale cultivation” of cannabis entails, we can assume that growing a plant or two at home should fall under the protection of the law.
