The embarrassing choices of the Italian Government regarding food and agricultural products continue month after month. Decisions that are often unscientific, dangerous, self-destructive, dramatically populist. Based on superstitions, rumors and prejudices. After the frantic regulations on cultured meat accompanied by the questionable positions repeated by the Minister of Agriculture Lollobrigida in defense of wine, the executive led by Giorgia Meloni pounces on the world of hemp cultivation by having an amendment approved (as is customary in these cases, in the middle of summer on the night between July 31 and August 1) in the Commission at Montecitorio that equates light cannabis to conventional cannabis.

Let us remember that the so-called light cannabis has a practically non-existent level of narcotic active ingredient (THC), while it contains cannabidiol (CBD) which has a non-narcotic but relaxing effect. In short, it is a substance that has no narcotic effects, is not addictive and is credited with providing some health benefits. And it is subjected to the persecution of a state that, under a monopoly, sells cigarettes.

The hemp supply chain in Italy

Hemp cultivation, as many observers of all political colors (from the Democratic Party to the Radicals, passing through Coldiretti) have pointed out, is a supply chain – historical and entirely Italian – that employs 13 thousand workers, generates 500 million in annual turnover, cultivates 4 thousand hectares that were significantly abandoned or used for no longer profitable crops and represents a success story of agricultural reconversion and artisanal and industrial transformation. A sector that has been a success story since the institution of the law of December 2, 2016 and that today the Government wants to sweep away.

Stop Cannabis Light. Political Responsibilities

According to Riccardo Magi of the Radicals, a great responsibility in the approval of the amendment lies with the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council Alfredo Mantovano. In the past, he has underlined the presence of an agricultural change related to the active ingredient of the cannabis plant: “In the seizures by the police forces we find that the active ingredient has gradually gone from an average of 7% to 29% for this substance that is erroneously defined as a soft drug, and this happens because of new GMO botanical varieties. When I was a magistrate we had seizures with an active ingredient just over 1% while naturally cannabis would not exceed 3%”. In order not to be able to read or write, Mantovano did everything he could to equate light cannabis, the one without an active ingredient (light cannabis has a THC content of less than 0.2%), to that pumped up to 29%, putting large seizures of narcotics on the same level as CBD-based oils, creams or chewing gums.

Even Coldiretti against the ban on light cannabis

In the meantime, incredibly, with this measure the Government has even managed to displease Coldiretti’s loyalists. “The amendment to the Security Bill, approved by the Constitutional Affairs and Justice Committees of the Chamber, which provides for the crackdown on light cannabis equated to non-light cannabis, puts at risk the survival of an entire sector engaged in a cultivation where significant investments have been made. For this reason,” says Coldiretti “we are asking for the modification of an amendment that seriously damages agricultural companies. In fact, the inflorescence of hemp represents a fundamental part of the added value of the plant, and prohibiting its harvesting and drying risks the collapse of an entire sector where many young farmers are involved. Coldiretti had expressed several times the need for protection for farmers who produce hemp in full legality, as also recognized by European legislation, also to respond to markets such as those of nutraceuticals, cosmetics, industry or furniture”.

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