From 12 April 2025, Cannabis Light is officially illegal in Italy. The government has approved a New decree-law on safety which explicitly prohibits the cultivation, processing, trade, transport and sale of sativa hemp inflorescences, even if with very low levels of THC and therefore without drug effects. The ban concerns not only the inflorescences, but also all derivatives such as oils, resins and extracts containing CBD.
The government has included this provision in the decree-law to bypass a thorough parliamentary debate and speed up the legislative process. Now Parliament is only 60 days to convert it into law, without the possibility of making substantial changes.
Cannabis light is not drugs, but the government is about it as such
At the base of the narrow there is the assumption, considered unfounded by many experts, that the cannabis light should be considered an amazing substance. In reality, as confirmed also by numerous judgments of the Cassation, Cannabis with THC less than 0.6% is without psychoactive effects and falls within the parameters of law 242 of 2016, which allows its cultivation for industrial purposes.
The CBD, an active ingredient present in major quantities in cannabis light, has relaxing effects but is not an amazing. Still, the new decree prohibits it in bulk, hitting an entire economic sector based on a legal product according to the legislation and the current jurisprudence, at least until a few days ago.
A sector of half a billion euros canceled from one day to the next
The Light Cannabis sector in Italy is worth about half a billion euros and permanently uses 10 thousand people, which become up to 30 thousand in seasonal peaks. It is estimated that in recent years over 3,000 farms have been born specialized in the production and sale of CBD inflorescences.
Now these companies risk kidnappings, complaints and immediate closure. The decree does not even provide for a transition period to dispose of stocks. Those who own inflorescences or derivative products, even if only in the warehouse, risk complaints for violation of article 73 of the consolidated text on drugs (Presidential Decree 309/1990).
Violations can involve not only immediate seizure of criminal products and complaints but even imprisonment.
The reactions of the sector: “An unreasonable measure”
The trade associations are on the war footing. “The situation is very serious“, He said Beppe Croce, president of Federcanapa, “This decree completely ignores European regulations and Italian judgments that recognize the legality of cannabis light“.
According to Federcanapa, the decree represents a very hard blow to Italian entrepreneurship and risks promoting only large pharmaceutical and tobacco groups, which will continue to sell products based on CBD legally imported from other European countries.
“The CBD market will not disappear said Croce – but will be controlled by those who have the resources to move abroad, while the small Italian producers are cut off”.
Ettore Prandini, president of Coldiretti, also defined the rule “an unreasonable measure”, underlining that the provision affects a legal and growing agricultural sector, without differentiating between recreational use and permitted uses such as florovivaism, green building, cosmetics and food.
Legal appeals arriving and a lot of uncertainty
Lawyers who assist companies in the sector are preparing appeals to the TAR and the Review Court, while the associations will also evaluate assessment actions to make the illegitimacy of the decree declare. In the meantime, many merchants have decided to temporarily close the shops or suspend production to avoid legal consequences.
The absolute prohibition on the transport and detention of the inflorescences generated a climate of total uncertainty. It is not yet clear, for example, how to manage warehouse stocks or existing contracts.
The security decree has triggered an earthquake in the world of cannabis light, leaving thousands of workers without certainties and questioning years of development of an innovative and sustainable sector. In the next two months it will be decided if this prohibition will become law in all respects or if the protests will be able to modify it. But in the meantime, the sector is paralyzed and the legal battle has just begun.
