Italy Turned to Old Marijuana Law Reforms

While ago, I wrote about the cannabis laws in Spain. I have done some digging about the current situation in Italy, and the thing is .... they were not much good as in Spain.

I mean, the law the passed bill wasn't so tolerating on people who might get caught in possession of cannabis, but it even gone worse than that.

Their government has passed a bill that make it a bit easier for people, who need MMJ for recreational purposes.


Thus the Italians were extremely surprised when on February 13, the Italian Parliament rejected the so-called “ Fini-Giovanardi” bill, which classifies marijuana as hard as cocaine or heroin.



After that day, the old cannabis legislation process was brought back in Italy, and hemp was classified as a “light-drug.”

Until that day, the Italian law was extremely harsh for anyone who was in possession of, growing or selling marijuana.

If a person was caught with the plant, he would be jailed from 8 to 20 years, depending on the sentence.

Also, he would face a penalty of about $30,000 or even higher amounts. All this seems ridiculous, having in mind that most of the U.S. states have already decriminalized the use of weed.

 Currently, 15% of the Italians aged 20 – 40 are using cannabis for recreational purposes. According to the old law, all of them are “hard” drug users. More than 25,000 people, which is 40% of the total amount of prisoners, are in jail due to cannabis-related crimes. Expectations are that, when the old marijuana legislation starts working properly, about 10, 000 prisoners would be released from prison.

The main difference between the old and the new law is that now a person could posses eight grams of marijuana for recreational use, but he cannot smoke it in public. The sale or cultivation of hemp is still illegal. Even after the sudden marijuana law reform, Italy is still not expected to decriminalize the plant in near future. Only time will show what’s next to come.