Italy's controversial ban on hemp flowers has hit its first major legal wall. A judge in Brindisi has suspended a criminal case and sent the bill to the Constitutional Court. It is the first time a judge has directly questioned the constitutionality of the blanket ban, which criminalizes anything involving hemp flowers except seed production.
Attorney Lorenzo Simonetti, who argued the case, says the move was overdue. "It is with great professional satisfaction that I welcome the decision," he says. "Industrial hemp must and can be produced in its entirety. The review puts a brake on the recent criminal ban. The goal now is for other judges to recognize that the ban is unconstitutional and either disapply it or raise the same issue."
The Brindisi order focuses on three points. First, the decree was pushed through as an emergency measure without a clear justification, and the bill was added inside an unrelated security package. Second, criminalizing all flower related activities "by presumption" clashes with the principle of harm, especially since Italy's own case law states that hemp does not produce meaningful psychoactive effects. Third, a total ban may violate EU free movement of goods rules, since industrial hemp is a lawful agricultural commodity in the bloc.
The case arrives as the Council of State has already referred the same questions to the European Court of Justice. On the heels of these recent events, the industry associations Canapa Sativa Italia, Sardinia Cannabis, Imprenditori Canapa Italia, and Resilienza Italia Onlus have happily welcomed the developments, and ask for legal clarity. "Industrial hemp is an agricultural sector that creates jobs, investment, and innovation. It deserves legal certainty, not ideological ambiguity.
