Sardinia breaks a staggering record: over 100,000 cannabis plants seized in one year.

The most significant data concerns cannabis: in Sardinia, 100,336 plants were seized in 2024, a 32.6% increase over the previous year (when there were 72,698) . Last year's figure is even more striking when placed in the national context: throughout Italy, 154,819 plants were identified by law enforcement. That is, two-thirds of the seized crops were on the island.

This is according to a report from the Central Directorate for Anti-Drug Services of the Ministry of the Interior , presented in recent days: Sardinia, with its climate and morphological characteristics, confirms itself as a privileged territory for the proliferation of cannabis plantations.

A clarification is necessary: some argue that the figures are inflated by a misinterpretation of the regulations by those responsible for carrying out the inspections, with industrial hemp being counted as part of the criminal market. This is what happened, for example, with a recent seizure in Ploaghe (not counted in the statistics, which refer to 2024). In the Sassari area, earlier this month, the Guardia di Finanza identified and destroyed 276 kilos of dried cannabis inflorescences and an additional 2,000 planted plants. The Sardinia Cannabis association had raised concerns: "Just a few months earlier, the Carabinieri of Ozieri and the NIPAF unit had already inspected that same company, performing rapid tests that confirmed the cultivation was fully legal. The report included. Now the question is simple,” we read in a note, “how is it possible that for one law enforcement agency it is industrial hemp and for another, after 7 days, it suddenly becomes a “narcotic”?”

But if "hemp is agriculture," as the association claims, in Sardinia, according to the Ministry of the Interior's dossier, things aren't any better with other drugs. And if operations like the DDA's "Termine" —which led to dozens of arrests and the dismantling of two criminal groups with connections to the Albanian mafia—were not enough, there's more data to prove it. Cocaine seized in 2024 totaled 169.35 kilos, up from 114 the previous year. Hashish seized rose from 240.64 kilos in 2023 to 383.53 in 2024. Seizures of powdered synthetic drugs jumped from 5 to 417, an increase of 8,240%.

"In 2024, the majority of hashish entered Italy by sea," the document states. " The port of Cagliari was the largest source of hashish seized, accounting for 71.88% (317.90 kg) of the total quantities intercepted at all maritime borders." To put it on a positive note, perhaps controls are more effective.