While the whole world moves towards legalization, the fight against cannabis continues in Italy. This time it's the PD, who in theory should represent the left, who want more severe penalties for soft drugs, even for minor crimes.
The bill, signed by the deputy of the Democratic Party Andrea de Maria, is composed of a single article: "In paragraph 5 of article 73 of the consolidated text on narcotics 309/90 (the one that punishes minor crimes) the words: 'from six months to four years' are replaced by the following: 'from two to six years'”.
And so, while in Germany the government approves a proposal to legalize cannabis, that of the PD is a project even more rigid than the one presented a few months ago by FDL, which wanted to increase the maximum sentence to 5 years.
The war on cannabis continues in Italy: the (crazy) proposal of the PD
“I would like to underline that the proposal is not 'prohibitionist' but aims to make the fight against drug dealing more effective – De Maria responds to the criticisms – For soft drugs, moreover I'm for decriminalization and I signed the relevant bill last year,” he reports The Manifesto, while underlining that: “Evidently, however, the Hon. De Maria doesn't handle the material very well."
Quoting the comment by Leonardo Fiorentini of Forum drugs: “Decriminalizing means the exact opposite and instead we need to work towards a social governance of the phenomenon, also through legal regulation. The rest is called prohibitionism."
If it came into force, the bill would be the preamble to a dystopian reality, in which simple consumers would be further criminalized by a State that, instead of working to protect them, throws them in prison.
As reported in fact by the last one report from Associazioni Antigone dating back to 2021, until one in three prisoners He is in prison for drug-related crimes. In particular, according to the analysis, about the 34,88% of the prison population is already detained in Italy for a violation of the Consolidated Law on Narcotics, most of which for cannabis.
* Photo by Sam Doucette on Unsplash
