La Republica has this story highlighted by Lawyer Giacomo Bulleri on Linked In this week
The possibilities of purchasing light cannabis in Italy are limited. And the substance could soon be banned altogether. From 22 September, meanwhile, in shops that offer the substance it will no longer be possible to sell “to ingest” products based on cannabidiol, CBD. With a decree from the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci , which unblocks an identical act of his predecessor Roberto Speranza frozen in 2020, CBD in fact becomes a narcotic substance and can only be sold in pharmacies.
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Business of Cannabis says
Italy’s government has taken aim at CBD once again, issuing a new decree set to class CBD oil as a narcotic substance.
It marks the latest blow to the country’s CBD industry following efforts to clamp down on ‘cannabis light’ in June.
The Meloni administration’s fresh efforts to crack down on CBD oil, one of the most popular CBD products in the country which is currently sold openly as a food supplement, has already been met with a vocal backlash from lawyers and industry stakeholders.
New decree
On August 21, 2023, the Italian Ministry of Health published a new decree in the Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale), setting the ball rolling for the change to officially be brought into force 30 days later (September 21).
The decree would cancel the suspension of an original decree from 2020, issued by then Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza.
On October 1, 2020, a decree, now infamous with the Italian cannabis industry, was passed which sought to include ‘compositions for oral administration of cannabidiol obtained from cannabis extracts’ in section B of the table of medicinal products, alongside THC.
Effectively, the inclusion would classify CBD oil as a narcotic substance, and the substance would only be accessible through pharmacies after it had been prescribed by a doctor.
A day after it came into force, the decree was suspended in light of a considerable pushback from the Italian CBD industry.
Italian cannabis industry association Canapa Sativa Italia (CSI) says that, since 2020, it has been ‘fighting so that the decree that would classify CBD as a drug does not pass’.
This decree will essentially overturn this suspension, seeing these original efforts to re-categorise CBD come into force, and the industry take another major blow from the Meloni administration.
Industry clampdown
Unsurprisingly, this move has already garnered a significant pushback from the industry, not least from the CSI, which says it is ‘not only devoid of scientific foundation, but will also have serious repercussions for Italy’.
“If it were to enter into force as it is, this provision will certainly have a great impact on all companies involved in the production, processing and marketing of natural origin CBD-based hemp extracts, because contrary to WHO recommendations, the sale will require a rigorous system of registration as a drug with the Ministry of Health, a procedure absolutely unsuitable for a substance without risks such as CBD,” the organisation said.
Others have pointed out the inconsistencies in policy, given that an Italian court overturned an ‘absurdly restrictive’ decree that meant hemp leaves and flowers were considered narcotics in February this year.
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