Italy’s Supreme Court has ruled that small-scale domestic cultivation of cannabis is legal, in a landmark decision triggering calls for further legalization from weed advocates and anger from the country’s conservatives.
The ruling was made on Dec. 19, but went unnoticed until last Thursday, when it was reported by Italian news agencies and immediately re-ignited the ongoing political debate over cannabis use in Italy.
“The court has opened the way, now it’s up to us,” said Matteo Mantero, a senator from the co-ruling 5-Star Movement.
Mantero presented an amendment to the 2020 budget calling for legalization and regulation of domestic cannabis use, but it was ruled inadmissible by the senate speaker from Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative Forza Italia party.
“Drugs cause harm, forget about growing them or buying them in shops,” Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing League Party said in a statement on Friday, in reference to shops selling low-strength “legal weed” that are widespread in Italy.
Maurizio Gasparri, a senator from Forza Italia which is allied to the League, said the first law the centre-right coalition would approve if it came to power “will cancel the absurd verdict of the court”.
While the 5-Star Movement favors a more liberal approach to cannabis, its centre-left and centrist coalition allies are more cautious, meaning future legislation on the issue remains in doubt.
Read the full report in the New York Times
