The light cannabis sector in Italy is at one crucial crossroads. After months of kidnappings, quick arrests and immediate releases, the game is now being played in the highest halls of Italian justice.
The Constitutional Court will have to rule on the legitimacy of the ban on industrial hemp inflorescences, provided for by the Security Decree of the Meloni government.
Constitutional or unconstitutional: the glimmer of the Brindisi investigating judge
The turning point comes from an ordinance of investigating judge of the Brindisi court, which in a trial started in June, raised the question of constitutional legitimacy.
In particular, the case concerned an Italian company that had imported industrial hemp plants from Bulgaria, however seized by the Customs and Monopolies Agency, which applied the ban provided for by the Security Decree.
The company immediately appealed and the case ended up before the judge for preliminary investigations. And this is where a crucial turning point occurs: the judge has found himself at a crossroads:
On the one hand, the Security Decree which prohibits inflorescences in its entirety (import, transfer, processing, distribution, trade, transport, dispatch, shipping, delivery, sale to the public and consumption").
On the other, constitutional principles could be violated, as well as the guidelines of the European community.
Faced with this doubt, the Brindisi judge could not do anything but postpone the matter to the Constitutional Court, which will have to verify the legitimacy of the Security Decree.
A point of no return
On the one hand the Court of Justice of the European Union, on the other the Constitutional Court. But one thing is certain: in this period the future of the hemp sector in Italy will be decided.
For those who are not up to date, in fact, last November 11th, the Council of State referred the decision on the Security Decree to the European Court of Justice.
Court of the EU which will have to definitively clarify whether a Member State, in this case Italy, may or may not apply autonomous restrictions on hemp. And adapt to community lines. Marking a point of no return for all member states.
| For further information: "Outlawed? Europe has the future of hemp in Italy in its hands"
*Photo by Crispin Jones on Unsplash
