Italy’s Supreme Court: Cannabis Cultivation For Personal Use Is Legal

Italy’s Supreme Court has ruled that cultivating cannabis for personal use is not illegal. Italy’s current cannabis prohibition policies were first enacted in the 1990s.

In its ruling, Italy’s Court determined that the crime of cultivating cannabis should exclude “small amounts grown domestically for the exclusive use of the grower.” Per Independent:

The court’s logic behind the decision has not yet been made public and a thorough, in-depth ruling will not be released for weeks or even months.

As such, it is not clear what quantity of cannabis constitutes “small-scale cultivation”, but the ruling comes from a case where the offender possessed two plants.

The court decision established case law that is in favor of cannabis consumers that wish to cultivate their own cannabis for personal use, however, a lot of dust is still in the air regarding the court’s decision.

Before people start cultivating cannabis in their areas of Italy, it would be wise for them to contact local law enforcement agencies to see how cultivation laws will be enforced. Just because a court decision was rendered does not mean that arrests will instantly stop.

It’s quite possible that law enforcement could still bust people and make them pursue legal remedies in order to get charges dropped, which puts a huge burden on the alleged cultivator.

What ultimately needs to happen is lawmakers in Italy need to pass legislation that makes it abundantly clear what is legal and what is not, including plant cultivation limits.

The decision in Italy follows a similar court decision in Mexico from late 2018 in which Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled cannabis prohibition was unconstitutional and tasked lawmakers in Mexico with passing legislation to implement clear legalization policies. To-date Mexico’s lawmakers have failed to follow through, however, they are working to meet the mandate.