Politics – International Cannabis Business Conference

Basel, Switzerland Becomes First Canton To Kick Off Recreational Cannabis Trial

Written by Marguerite Arnold on April 27, 2022. Posted in Politics.

The trial will allow up to 400 participants to buy their cannabis in pharmacies – in exchange for being study participants

Here is the great news. Switzerland is moving ahead with its recreational cannabis trial. The first canton to be approved by the federal government, Basel, will allow a very limited number of adults (over 18) to buy and consume cannabis legally, beginning in September.

Here are the other prerequisites. Participants will have to participate in a formal study over the next 2.5 years to determine the impact of consumption on their physical and mental health. Participants will also not be allowed to resell the cannabis they purchase. Anyone who does will be both penalized and ejected from the study.

Other municipalities, including Zurich, Geneva, and Bern all still have their applications pending – but are also expected to be given the green light in the near term.

According to official estimates, there are about 220,000 regular recreational cannabis users in Switzerland. This seems a bit low in a country of about 8.5 million people. Everywhere else, cannabis users represent about 10% of the population. However, other places, especially in North America, have not segmented out medical vs recreational users as their markets get going.

Only time will tell.

Medical cannabis is legal in Switzerland – however, just like in other places, it remains extremely expensive and hard to come by. Physicians must obtain special approval to prescribe and at present, there are only 2 pharmacies allowed to dispense it.

Why Does the Swiss Trial Matter?

For those used to legalization in other jurisdictions, the Swiss approach seems a bit limited and more than a lot complicated and bureaucratic. However, it represents, in its own way, an important step in Europe towards recreational reform, which has been fought if not delayed almost everywhere by authorities and politicians alike.

This trial will, undoubtedly, reveal what those in North America already know, albeit with less formal data to support it. Namely, those who consume cannabis are not criminals, couch potatoes, or drawn from the dregs of society.

Beyond this, however, a formal trial will begin to finally and definitively answer many of the questions if not counter persistent stereotypes that are still being thrown about by those who oppose the inevitable. Namely consuming cannabis is less harmful than alcohol, and those who consume other illicit drugs, along with prescription substances, tend to use less of these as they transition to cannabis.

Of course, the trial is also being avidly watched just about everywhere else in Europe where the question of legalization is a burning political issue, no matter how many people downplay its importance.

The data from the Swiss trial is also likely to show up in every debate going forward, starting with DACH trading partner Germany.

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South Africa Approves First Cannabis Pharmacy

Written by Marguerite Arnold on April 27, 2022. Posted in Business, Politics.

The pharmacy, located in Johannesburg, supplies card-carrying medical cannabis patients and is registered with federal authorities

South Africa is powering forward with its cannabis reform plans. The country has now authorized its first legal cannabis-only pharmacy.

Located in Johannesburg, THC Pharmacy also supplies two other stores – both of which only sell CBD. CBD is now widely available in South Africa, however, THC is tightly controlled – and is still only allowed for medical purposes.

A doctor associated with the pharmacy assists patients with the application for medical cards.

Each card enables a patient to purchase up to 120 grams per month and the pharmacy is hoping to register 500 patients. This would allow the business to sell between 30-50 kgs per month.

Patients must fill out an application that is submitted to the South African Health Product Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) which is also the agency that dispenses the patient cards.

But in a unique twist, the pharmacy also employs a chef to advise patients on how to cook with the plant.

To obtain the business license, the pharmacy had to meet strict standards set out by Sahpra. As it has passed these, the establishment is able to not only sell cannabis but also legally cultivate it.

More than 100 pharmacies are now planned.

More Cannabis Reform in Progress

South Africa is determined to develop this part of its economy – and for obvious reasons. There is high demand for quality products outside the country in Europe and beyond. However, the country is also making sure that domestic needs will be met as well.

This is a marked turn in the development of the industry. For example, Greece, which is also on the hunt for both foreign investment and valuable export crops, did not allow domestic patients to obtain cannabis, even for medical purposes, until earlier this spring.

Beyond this, South Africa is moving forward on all fronts when it comes to cannabis cultivation and use and has since 2018. There is currently a bill in Parliament to extend cannabis reform to allow recreational use, commercial cultivation and for individuals to grow the plant at home. It is widely expected to pass this year.

Beyond this, the country is clearly acting as a force for cannabis reform across the continent. More and more African countries are looking to the development of the industry here to base their own cannabis reform and cultivation efforts.

In the meantime, it is clear South Africa intends to lead the way.

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Australian Researchers Examine Motivation Behind Increased Support For Legalization

Written by Johnny Green on April 27, 2022. Posted in Politics.

Support for adult-use cannabis legalization is stronger now at the global level than at any other time since the start of international cannabis prohibition. Now that Uruguay, Canada, and Malta have passed national cannabis legalization measures and the sky didn’t fall, that should only further add to the momentum for legalization in other countries.

Researchers in Australia recently examined survey data in an attempt to try to identify why support for cannabis legalization has risen in recent decades, specifically in the United States. The researchers leading the study were all affiliated with The University of Queensland, and they examined, “historical changes in legalization attitudes and the period-specific individual and external influences on these.”

“A systematic search was conducted for publications in PubMed, EMBASE, and PsycINFO up to October 2019. Six studies with a regionally or nationally representative adult US-based populations were included.” the researchers stated regarding their methodology.

“A secondary analysis was conducted using data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health. Hierarchical age-period-cohort analysis assessed the trends in perceived harmfulness and availability of cannabis between 1996 and 2018. Ecological comparisons were made between these perceptions and support for cannabis legalization over time.” the researchers went on to state.

The researchers determined that support for adult-use cannabis legalization started to increase considerably in the 1990s, and that the increase continued in a linear fashion until 2019. That is reflected in the results of Gallup’s annual cannabis legalization poll, a graph of which can be seen below:

Gallup’s polling is particularly useful because they have asked the same question every year since 1969. As you can clearly see, support for legalization was a dismal 25% in the mid-1990s, and it continued to rise nearly every year through 2020 when it leveled off at 68%.

“Most people developed more liberal views, with no evidence that changes within any one sociodemographic group was disproportionately responsible for the overall attitudinal change. Increases in the proportion of people who use cannabis, non-religious population and political liberalism may partially explain the increased support for legalization.” the researchers determined.

“The decline in perceived harmfulness of cannabis, as reflected in the media, may have contributed to the increased support for legalization.” the researchers stated.

“The US population has become more accepting of cannabis legalization. The attitudinal change is related to changes in the perceived risks and benefits of cannabis use, influenced by broader political and cultural changes over the study period.” the researchers concluded.

The researchers obviously have their views regarding why cannabis legalization has increased, however, I don’t necessarily agree with all of their conclusions. I definitely do not think that there was a ‘decline in the perceived harmfulness of cannabis reflected in the media.’

To back up that personal belief, I would point to the ongoing ‘coverage’ by media companies that are blatant reefer madness propaganda. Mainstream media outlets still regularly provide cannabis opponents access to their platforms and allow them to publish nonsense without any attempt to fact-check it from what I can tell. What has changed is the increased volume of peer-reviewed studies regarding cannabis, and the increased availability and awareness of the results of those studies, many of which directly refute long-standing anti-cannabis talking points.

I also don’t think that increasing support for cannabis legalization is the direct result of an increase in ‘political liberalism’ being that support for cannabis legalization has increased among voters from all major political parties. I personally believe that there are two major factors at play in the recorded increase in support for legalization, and this goes for polling data in the United States and everywhere else.

First, many people have always supported legalization and are only now willing to admit it since prohibition is crumbling and the stigma is reducing. Secondly, people that were on the fence about cannabis legalization quickly move to the ‘supporter’ category when they see that legalization is working wherever it is allowed.

Once legalization goes from a hypothetical to implementation, and it works, many cannabis prohibition talking points instantly die in the minds of many voters. The legalization supporter base expands to non-consumers that just want to see sensible public policy enacted. It also expands to people that want to see society reap the economic benefits of a regulated industry. That is likely why you see polling results continue to improve as legalization continues to spread, at least in my opinion.

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Which Country Has ‘The Best’ Cannabis Legalization Model?

Written by Johnny Green on April 27, 2022. Posted in Politics.

Cannabis prohibition, thankfully, has not always existed. For thousands of years, humans used the cannabis plant for various purposes, and it was only in the 1900s that cannabis prohibition first became a widespread public policy around the globe.

As I have said many times and will say until the day that I die, cannabis prohibition is one of the most harmful public policies in the history of humans. Countless people have had their lives needlessly ruined because of the cannabis plant, despite the fact that cannabis is safer than many of the products people have in their homes.

Fortunately, the walls of cannabis prohibition are slowly but surely crumbling, and now there are multiple countries within the global community that have legalized cannabis for adult use. Lawmakers in Uruguay, Canada, and Malta have all passed adult-use legalization measures, and all three countries have different legalization models.

Buying And Cultivating

All three countries that have legalized cannabis at the national level currently have the same legal age, 18 years old, and all three countries permit adults of legal age to cultivate cannabis at home, although Canada has seen some local bans that are working their way through various legal challenges.

The real difference between Uruguay, Canada, and Malta’s legalization models can be found in how people legally purchase cannabis for adult use. Uruguay, the first country to ever legalize cannabis for adult use, limits purchases to clubs and pharmacies, and only citizens and permanent residents can make purchases (although that is changing at some point).

Malta is still setting up rules and regulations after becoming the first country in Europe to legalize cannabis for adult use late last year. When sales do begin in Malta, they will only occur via private clubs – no dispensaries. From a purely purchasing standpoint, Canada has the best legalization model in that anyone from anywhere can make a purchase as long as they are of legal age, and those purchases can be made through the mail, via storefronts, and virtually any other way that people can buy cannabis.

More Legalization On The Horizon

Uruguay was the first country to ever legalize cannabis at a national level. Canada was the first G-7 country to legalize cannabis for adult use. Malta was the first country in Europe to pass an adult-use legalization measure. All three of those countries have a claim to being the first to legalize cannabis in some manner, however, none of them will be the last.

Multiple countries (Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands) are launching or expanding adult-use legalization pilot programs that create localized legalization. Multiple other countries (Mexico, Italy, South Africa) have had their top courts render decisions against cannabis prohibition policies and lawmakers there are working to fully implement legalization.

Germany, which is home to one of the largest economies on planet earth, is trending closer to legalization every month. The largest prohibition domino, the United States, is witnessing the continued spread of legalization at the state level with every passing year either via the election process or the legislative process. With that in mind, more legalization models are on the horizon and while all of them are likely to incorporate some policy components that are already implemented in current legalized nations, there will be new policy components introduced as well as more countries get on the right side of history, with some new policies being more nuanced than others.

Trying to determine what is ‘the best’ is a subjective measurement, and largely in the eye of the beholder. That is true of cannabis legalization policies just as it is with virtually anything else. What is considered to be ‘the best’ cannabis policy in one region may not work at all in different regions. With that being said, every legalization model is better than locking humans in prison cells due to them being caught with cannabis.

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Social Organizations Receive Medical Cannabis Cultivation Licenses In Mexico

Written by Frank Schuler on April 27, 2022. Posted in Politics.

The road towards adult-use cannabis legalization in Mexico has been full of twists, turns, detours, and in some cases dead ends. In late 2018 Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that cannabis prohibition as it pertained to personal use was unconstitutional. Since that time lawmakers have tried, and failed, to pass a Court-mandated measure to establish an adult-use industry in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s emerging medical cannabis program and industry have moved along in the shadows of adult-use reform. As is the case in every country, there are countless suffering patients in Mexico that can benefit from safe access to medical cannabis.

Fortunately for patients in the Oaxaca area, medical cannabis cultivation licenses were issued to over two-dozen community entities that will further boost safe access in the region. Per Politico MX (translated from Spanish to English):

In Oaxaca, 26 social organizations belonging to Oaxacan communities received permits from the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks ( Cofepris ) for the management, selection and cultivation of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Among the benefited places are San Dionisio Ocotepec and San Pablo Guilá , who from now on will be able to process cannabis for the production of products whose objectives are to help different medical treatments.

Horacio Sosa Villavicencio, a deputy from Morena, indicated that it was not an easy road, but that thanks to the community organization and the solidarity that exists in the native peoples governed under the regime of uses and customs, it was possible to achieve these authorizations.

Oaxaca has made international headlines multiple times in recent weeks. As we previously reported, city officials in Oaxaca recently issued a directive to local police to leave cannabis consumers alone, even when they are consuming cannabis in public spaces.

Safe access to medical cannabis is extremely important, as is the ability to safely consume medical cannabis after it is legally acquired. For many patients, finding a place to consume cannabis can be tricky.

With that in mind, it’s a great thing to know that if a patient in Oaxaca has to consume cannabis outside of a private residence for whatever reason, they will be able to do so without being persecuted.

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Putting ‘Europe’s Biggest Cannabis Farm’ Bust Into Context

Written by Johnny Green on April 27, 2022. Posted in Politics.

Historically, I have always shied away from writing about cannabis busts. Having been present at no less than 3 no-knock raids in my youth, and having guns pointed at my face during the course of the raids, I know firsthand how traumatic the experience can be. Many members of my family have also been subjected to the practice due to cannabis prohibition.

With that being said, there was a recent cannabis bust in Europe that I felt was worthy of discussion. The bust occurred in rural Spain, and international media coverage ran with the claim that it was the ‘biggest cannabis farm’ in Europe. The numbers involved were definitely significant – over 415,000 plants ‘worth up to €100m.’ Per Sky News:

Police have raided what is believed to be Europe’s biggest cannabis farm in Spain.

Officers destroyed 415,000 hemp plants, worth up to €100m (more than £83m) at a plantation in the rural northern region of Navarre.

Around 50 tonnes of the plant were being dried in a warehouse to be processed into cannabidiol (CBD) – a non-psychoactive compound increasingly used to treat health conditions including anxiety and insomnia.

If you are like me, then you locked in on that last sentence in the cited media coverage. The plants involved were not high-THC strains. Rather, they were hemp plants and were being cultivated for the sole purpose of producing CBD products.

CBD is legal in Spain, yet, cultivating cannabis outside of very limited circumstances is still prohibited. Cannabis can be cultivated for making textiles, producing seeds, and for medical research purposes in Spain. In all of those instances, a government license is required, and it appears that the farm where this bust occurred did not have a license.

The number of plants involved in this case in Spain may seem like an enormous amount, however, it’s important to put the operation into context. The entire operation was roughly 166 acres in size. As far back as 2015, at least one farm in the United States had an operation that was nearly twice the size of this one in Spain, and it was operating legally.

According to data from 2019, at that time nearly two dozen countries in Europe had legal hemp industries that cultivated more than 166 acres. France alone had over 44,000 acres (converted from hectares) of agricultural land dedicated to cultivating hemp according to the previously cited data. If the people in Spain operating the farm at the heart of this article were doing so without a license, so be it.

However, when people read sensational headlines involving hundreds of thousands of plants ‘worth up to 100 million euros’ it’s important for people to keep in mind that it was hemp plants being cultivated for CBD purposes and that there are legal hemp farms out there that completely dwarf the size of the farm in question in Spain. Always make sure to sidestep the reefer madness propaganda and keep things in perspective when reading media coverage.

Taiwan’s Lowered Cannabis Penalty Does Not Go Nearly Far Enough

Written by Johnny Green on April 27, 2022. Posted in Politics.

Lawmakers in Taiwan moved this week to lower the mandatory sentence for people convicted of cultivating cannabis for personal use from five years to one year. The previous fine, NT$5 million (roughly $170,000 USD), was also lowered to NT$1 million. People cultivating cannabis for personal use can still receive a prison sentence of up to seven years depending on the circumstances under the new public policy.

When you look at the mandatory sentencing change from a purely mathematical perspective, receiving a one-year mandatory sentence is obviously better than receiving a five-year mandatory sentence. However, from a human perspective, incarcerating a person due to them cultivating the cannabis plant is ridiculous and shameful. It’s even more outrageous being that the amount involved with this particular policy change is a personal amount.

Intimidating Activists

Days prior to the mandatory sentencing change, cannabis activists calling themselves ‘Green Sensation’ rallied in Taiwan, calling for cannabis to be decriminalized and for low-THC products to be completely legalized. The activists held an event at Liberty Square under the theme “End the War on Cannabis.” The event portion was originally planned to coincide with 4:20 PM in Taiwan, after which the activists planned to go to the Ministry of Justice and deliver over 14,000 petitions and hold a rally.

Unfortunately, the time of the press conference had to be moved to earlier in the day after authorities deemed at least part of the rally to be illegal, even before anything took place. It was blatant government intimidation. Green Sensation ultimately decided to hold the press conference at the Ministry of Justice at 10:30 a.m., before the start of the other activities according to a social media post by the organizers.

Even when a handful of activists were holding signs in front of the Ministry of Justice and speaking, law enforcement was right next to them demanding that they disperse. The demands for dispersal came despite the fact that the activists were doing nothing more than advocating for sensible cannabis policy. Below is video footage of the intimidating encounter:

A Reminder That We Have Work To Do

The cannabis industry is experiencing exponential growth in many parts of the globe right now, and that is an amazing thing. As someone that lives where cannabis is legal, I can tell you firsthand how amazing it feels every day to be able to purchase legal cannabis. Today is 4/20, and after posting this article I will be going to the dispensary to do exactly that.

However, people that are lucky enough to experience cannabis freedom need to always remember that there are still many, many people around the world that live under prohibition policies, such as in Taiwan. Not only do they risk their own freedom if they are trying to treat themselves with cannabis or help someone do so, they can also be put in tense situations just for speaking out, as seen in the video above.

Until everyone across the globe is free of prohibition, there will always be work to do for activists inside and outside of the jurisdictions where cannabis prohibition still exists. No one should ever have one year of their life taken from them simply because they were cultivating cannabis for personal use. Anyone that says otherwise lacks compassion for other humans. I tip my hat to the activists in Taiwan who are showing the world what courage and compassion in action look like, and I am hopeful that their efforts will not be in vain.

What Is Being Done To Free Brittney Griner?

Written by Johnny Green on March 21, 2022. Posted in Politics.

“Britney Griner: The ‘Tom Brady of women’s basketball’ has vanished”. That is what BBC World News tweeted on March 15th in regards to international basketball legend Brittney Griner being detained in Russia. At the time of the tweet little was known about Brittney Griner’s situation other than she was arrested at a Moscow airport and being charged with possessing cannabis vape pen cartridges.

Since that time, details have started to trickle in regarding the situation. Brittney Griner, who plays professional women’s basketball for UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia during the WNBA offseason, was originally arrested on February 17th, with news of the arrest surfacing at the international level weeks later.

According to a ‘source close to Griner’ she is doing ‘OK’. Per ESPN:

The source close to Griner said that despite the inability of diplomats to visit Griner or other Americans in Russian custody, they have gotten frequent updates on her from her team of Russian attorneys.

“I wouldn’t say she’s ‘good,’ but she’s OK,” the source said.

A court in Moscow recently set a date of May 19th to start the process of reviewing Griner’s case (not an actual trial date), which came after the court granted an extension to Griner’s pre-trial detention originally proposed by Russian prosecutors.

How Great Is Brittney Griner At Basketball?

Brittney Griner is one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game. Below is just a mere sampling of some of her accomplishments:

Member of Team USA’s 2016 gold medal team during 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
Two-time gold medalist with Team USA at FIBA Women’s Basketball World Championships (2018, 2014)
Named the MVP of the gold medal game in 2018
Two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (2015, 2014)
Six-time WNBA All-Star (2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014 and 2013)
Two-Time All-WNBA First Team (2019, 2014)
Three-Time All-WNBA Second Team (2018, 2017, 2015)
Three-Time All-WNBA Defensive First Team (2018, 2015, 2014)
Three-Time All-WNBA Defensive Second Team (2019, 2017, 2016)
Holds WNBA regular season records for blocks in a single game (11), blocks in a season (129, 2014), single-season blocks average (4.04, 2015) and career blocks average (2.9)

Griner’s resume speaks for itself – she is an elite athlete, hence why BBC World News felt comfortable comparing her to another elite athlete by the name of Tom Brady. Unfortunately, Griner is not compensated at the same level as Tom Brady. Whereas Tom Brady made tens of millions of dollars last season in the NFL, Griner made $220,000 in the WNBA during the same season. Griner makes an additional $1 million during the WNBA offseason playing in Russia.

What Is The U.S. Government Doing To Help Free Griner?

The criminal justice system in Russia is not exactly known for being credible and fair. It is no secret that many prisoners are arrested and put in detention for political purposes in Russia, and given Brittney Griner’s fame and notoriety, many observers have floated the obvious theory that Griner was possibly arrested as some type of ploy by Russia to use her as political leverage in some manner.

According to BBC, today marks the 25th day of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, which puts the initial invasion just days after Griner was reportedly arrested. Is that just a coincidence? Or was it premeditated? Without proper due process, there’s no way to know for sure.

“There have been a lot of allegations of planting of substances on people, particularly on the part of human rights advocates,” says Peter Maggs, a law professor at the University of Illinois and an expert on Russia’s civil code according to CNN.

Making matters worse, the United States government has indicated that it has had no contact with Griner. Per the previously cited article by ESPN:

A State Department official issued a statement to ESPN on Thursday saying, “We insist the Russian government provide consular access to all U.S. citizen detainees in Russia, including those in pre-trial detention, as Brittney Griner is.”

The statement marks a slight but significant change in the government’s tone when it comes to Griner. Up until now the government has deliberately kept a low profile with her case, hoping not to increase her profile to the point where she might become a valuable political asset to the Russian government. It generally has avoided commenting at all, and when Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked about her at a news conference last week he gave a tepid statement that did not mention her by name.

Based on State Department guidance, Griner’s representatives have asked the WNBA, NBA, the media and Griner’s supporters generally to keep any attention to her case “on a low simmer,” as one source said.

Will Griner Be Released Pre-Trial?

Why is the United States government pursuing a flawed strategy of keeping attention to Griner’s case “on a low simmer?” Would that be the case if it was Tom Brady who was arrested? What if the case didn’t involve a substance that the United States government still prohibits? Would things still be “on a low simmer”?

The fact of the matter is that Russia is not going to give in to any demands made by the United States on anything right now, and that was true even before Russia invaded Ukraine. Furthermore, Brittney Griner is an international superstar. Not only is she one of the most legendary female athletes in the United States, she is an Olympic champion who is also a professional athlete in Russia.

Keeping things “on a low simmer” will not make Brittney Griner any more or less famous than she already is. Make no mistake about it – Russia’s government knows exactly who Brittney Griner is. The second she was arrested, Brittney Griner became a political prisoner even if the United States government doesn’t seem to want to treat the case that way.

Russia’s law dictates that prisoners can only be held for a year before facing trial, however, there are examples of that deadline being surpassed, including cases involving citizens of the United States. Short of an enormous amount of ongoing outcry by anyone and everyone, including and especially the WNBA and NBA, it’s quite possible that Griner could remain incarcerated indefinitely in Russia due to the cannabis charges.

Unfortunately, it’s that very thing that the United States government is specifically asking people not to do, which is shameful and no doubt based to some degree on the United States federal government’s long-standing opposition to cannabis and people who use it.

Milan’s City Council Calls For Cannabis Legalization In Italy

Written by Johnny Green on March 18, 2022. Posted in Politics.

Italy is home to one of the most inspiring cannabis activism efforts of all time. Last year activists in Italy gathered enough signatures to put national legalization before voters. Over 630,000 signatures were gathered in just a matter of weeks.

The signatures were gathered so quickly and abundantly due to a change in the referendum process in Italy in which signatures can now be gathered digitally. Being that the signatures were gathered digitally, I was personally worried at the time that not enough of them would be deemed valid during the validation process.

I have worked on signature-gathering campaigns for cannabis reform efforts in the past, and the validation rate can vary widely, with signatures gathered digitally being particularly ripe for a large invalidation rate. The effort in Italy required 500,000 valid signatures, and eventually, it was determined that there were indeed enough valid signatures in the overall signature count.

Unfortunately, the referendum effort later hit a dead end when Italy’s Constitutional Court prevented the measure from moving forward based on a technicality. Polling seemed to indicate that the measure would have passed overwhelmingly, which combined with how fast the valid signatures piled up, clearly demonstrates that support for legalization in Italy is significant.

The referendum effort may have never reached voters, however, it has increased the pressure on lawmakers in Italy to step up and pass a legalization measure. Now Milan’s City Council is calling for national legalization, which will only further build on that pressure. Per La Repubblica(translated to English):

The City Council of Milan is asking to legalize the use of cannabis and is calling on the government to approve a law that goes in this direction. The hall of Palazzo Marino has in fact approved the agenda promoted by the leader of the Democratic Party, Filippo Barberis, shared by most of the majority and also voted by the leader of Forza Italia, Alessandro De Chirico.

In the document, the classroom asks the mayor and the council “to take action with the Parliament and in all appropriate fora to support the need to approve a bill on the legalization of the production and consumption of cannabis and its derivatives” and to “reinvest the revenues deriving from the legalization of cannabis in training, prevention and harm reduction policies “, as happens in countries where this substance is already legalized. According to the agenda, the legalization of cannabis “would bring various economic and social benefits, such as a very important damage to the mafia economy, an increase in GDP and a consequent increase in revenues for public finances,”

In addition to the referendum effort in Italy, the nation’s Supreme Court ruled back in 2019 that personal cannabis cultivation was legal. The landmark decision created many questions, not the least of which is ‘what constitutes a personal amount of cannabis,’ yet it also largely tasked Italy’s lawmakers with answering those questions via legalization legislation.

All the while, cannabis legalization is on the move across Europe. Malta legalized cannabis for adult use late last year, and several European countries are ramping up legalization pilot programs. Germany, which is the biggest domino on the continent, is trending towards legalization. All of this puts pressure on Italy to legalize, which will hopefully happen sooner rather than later.