Turin votes in favour of legalizing cannabis- Italy #drugpolicy

The Local
14 January 2014

Turin votes in favour of legalizing cannabis

Turin's city council has approved a motion in favour of making the drug
legal for therapeutic purposes, making it the first of Italy's large cities
to do so.

The proposal is an appeal to the Italian Parliament that they "move from a
prohibitionist structure to one where soft drugs, particularly cannabis, are
legally produced and distributed". This means that while the vote doesn't
make it legal to consume, buy or sell cannabis for individual use yet, it
paves the way for a more tolerant view of the drug in the eyes of the law.

There are two parts to the proposal; the first called for the right to use
cannabis for 'therapeutic' purposes, something already permitted in Tuscany,
Liguria and Veneto, where as well as authorizing pharmacies to sell
cannabis-based products, experimental distribution of free medications
containing cannabis has been approved in hospitals, as well as direct
production of marijuana.

The second part is more drastic: it overrules the Fini-Giovanardi law, by
which offences involving cannabis are treated in the same way as those
involving cocaine or heroin. This would pave the way for legalization of
recreational cannabis use.

The vote passed narrowly, with 15 votes in favour, 13 against and six
abstentions, including the city's mayor Piero Fassino.

Centre-right politicians and the Catholic wing of the Pdl made up the
majority of the opposition to the measure, which was proposed by Marco
Grimaldi of democratic socialist party Sel.

Grimaldi told La Repubblica "Turin is the first large city in Italy to speak
out about the annulment of the Fini-Giovanardi law, and the legalization of
so-called light drugs. We want to put an end to the political prohibitition,
which has only served to give illegal traffickers hundreds of billions of
euros, and thousands of citizens a criminal record."

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