The TAR rejects (again) the government's crackdown on light cannabis
Ministry Decree Equating CBD to Narcotics SuspendedAnother stop from the Lazio Regional Administrative Court to the government's crackdown on light cannabis. For the second time in just under a year, administrative judges have suspended the decree of the Ministry of Health that equates cannabidiol, a cannabis extract, to narcotic substances , effectively prohibiting its sale in shops, herbalist's shops and tobacconists.
Hemp growers are rejoicing, waiting for the court to rule on the merits on December 16. The provision that is the subject of the sentence - as Palazzo Chigi also specifies - is in any case separate from the one included in the security bill that instead prohibits the sale of light cannabis , that is, with a THC (the psychotropic substance of hemp) lower than 0.2% and which until today was also possible to buy in commercial shops.
"The panel of judges - is the comment of the association that appealed to the TAR, Imprenditori Canapa Italia - recognized the validity of our arguments, noting the serious economic and social danger that the application of the decree would have entailed . This decision represents an important victory for the industrial hemp sector, which risked suffering serious economic damage".
Already last October, the same TAR of Lazio had suspended the provision signed by Minister Orazio Schillaci declaring its ineffectiveness. «For the second time, the TAR of Lazio stops the ideological fury of the Meloni government on cannabis light - says the spokesperson of Europa Verde and deputy of Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, Angelo Bonelli -. Now we need to find solutions to protect the sector». The judges, adds the secretary of +Europa Riccardo Magi , «dismantle all the prohibitionist propaganda of the government on cannabis light and, with this timely ruling, also deeply affect what the Montecitorio chamber is discussing in these hours, that is, the part of the security bill that in fact wipes out with a stroke of the sponge the entire industrial hemp sector».
The TAR ruling, underlines M5S MP Gilda Sportiello , «proves us right. CBD should not be included in the table of psychotropic and narcotic substances as instead provided for by the ministerial decree because there is no clear scientific evidence». «Yet another embarrassing situation for this incompetent government». thunders Democrat Marco Furfaro . The Coscioni Association , on the other hand, accuses the government of wasting resources «for a decision that is not only anti-scientific but not in line with the UN conventions, which do not classify CBD among narcotic substances ».
The Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policies, Maria Teresa Bellucci , instead said she was "astonished," promising to continue fighting " against the oral intake of products containing cannabis , such as those sold in cannabis shops, which are dangerous for individual and public health, as sanctioned by the Higher Health Council."
(Online Union)