The ruling only applies to "small amounts grown domestically for the exclusive use of the grower." It has drawn ire and protest from the country's conservatives.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Medina
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Italy's top court, the Court of Cassation, ruled earlier in December that an exception should be made to laws against growing cannabis plants.
In a new interpretation of the law on growing narcotic plants, judges decreed that the crime of cultivating narcotic drugs should be altered to exclude "small amounts grown domestically for the exclusive use of the grower."
Heady stuff — the business of legal cannabis
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The ruling was made on December 19 but was not reported by local news outlets until Thursday.
"Drugs cause harm, forget about growing them or buying them in shops," said right-wing League Party leader Matteo Salvini in a statement on Friday.
The former interior minister has publicly stated his opposition to any steps towards legalization, and declared a "war on cannabis" earlier this year. Since 2016, Italy has permitted the sale of extremely low-strength cannabis-style products in specialist stores. Salvini welcomed a Court of Cassation verdict earlier in the year toughening up restrictions on this practice.
Italian Army grow cannabis for medical purposes
Cannabis cures: Italy launches a pilot project for domestic production of cannabis to become independent from Dutch imports and meet the demand for medical cannabis.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Cannabis-based medicine
Cannabis-based medicine is produced by the Italian Army at Stabilimento Chimico Farmaceutico Militare in Florence.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Military project
The production of cannabis is just one of the activities of the military's 164-year-old chemical and pharmaceutical institute. The body prides itself on the fact that its cannabis was registered as a pharmaceutical product by Italy's medicines agency in September 2015. The end product is very different from most of the cannabis consumed around the world.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Less THC, more CBD
The component that gets recreational users high - tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - is less useful to doctors than another active ingredient, the anti-inflammatory cannabidiol (CBD). An estimated 2,000 -3,000 Italians currently use medical cannabis for instance to relieve multiple sclerosis pain and spasticity or combat nausea after chemotherapy.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
"I have never tried it!"
"No, I have never tried it, and I don't have any intention of trying it either," says Antonio Medica, the colonel in charge of the Italian military's cannabis laboratory in Florence. He laughs that one of his colleagues joked the other day, saying they spent 40 years trying to stop the troops smoking it in the barracks and "now we are producing it ourselves'."
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Suiting up for the growing room
Production in a sterile, sealed environment is very important. "That is the only way you can ensure a consistent product and one free from the toxic materials, particularly heavy metals like mercury, that the plants can easily absorb when grown in fields," Medica explains.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Relief for cancer patients
The German parliament In January 2017 voted unanimously in a landmark bill to legalize the use of medical marijuana, for instance ot help cancer patients feeling nauseaous after chemotherapy. The drug is also said to help fight a lack of appetite and weight loss in tumor patients, and can alleviate symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
Image: Getty images/AFP/F. Monteforte
Made in Italy
Above, a pharmacist prepares a prescription of marijuana in the laboratories. The first batches of made-in-Italy pot have just arrived in pharmacies.
However, Matteo Mantero, a senator from the co-ruling and left-leaning Five Star Movement lauded the decision. "The court has opened the way, now it's up to us," he said.
