Around 200 Members of Parliament from across the Political Spectrum Sign up to a Project to Legalise Marijuana in Italy

More than 220 members of parliament in Italy, who belong to different parties, have supported a draft law aimed at regulating cannabis. The initiative looks to gain approval for use and consumption in private places as well as the sale of marijuana in establishments in the country.

The senator and sub-secretary for Foreign Affairs, Benedetto Della Vedova, is the main driving force behind the legislation that has been on the table for several months. At the moment, legislators from the Democratic Party, Left Ecology Freedom, the 5 Star Movement, from Large Autonomous Areas and even the conservative Forza Italia, have shown their support for Della Vedova. His proposal began with the joining of 60 members from opposing political parties and now the number has almost quadrupled. However, as the senator explained during the press conference, it still has to get through the parliamentary process.

Among other things, the text prohibits marijuana possession for minors; however people aged over 18 can possess a small quantity of up to 15 grams at home and five in the street. However, it bans consumption in public places or places open to the public.

Also, each person will be entitled to have up to five plants in their home, as long as they have previously informed the authorities. They will also be able to join associations that can have a maximum of fifty members. Likewise, the draft bill looks at home growing for medical purposes, given that, as the politician himself has explained, “access is difficult for some ill people”.

For the moment, the biggest critics of the draft bill are extreme-right politicians who believe that prostitution should be regulated before marijuana is legalised because “sex does not cause harm, cannabis does”.