Italy will likely hold a referendum on decriminalizing cannabis next year

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by PjeterPannos
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(CNN) Italy will likely decide whether or not to decriminalize cannabis in a referendum next year, after campaign groups managed to gather the required 500,000 signatures in a week.

Popular referendums in Italy can be called if 500,000 signatures are obtained, and campaigners were able to obtain the necessary amount well before the September 30 deadline.

If the public votes to decriminalize cannabis, the purchase, sale and cultivation of the drug will all become legal under Italian law.

"More than 500,000 online signatures in just a week for the #ReferendumCannabis," the campaigners wrote on their official Facebook page . "We celebrate them by thanking you one by one, because this is a first and not just in Italy."

The consumption of cannabis is not criminalized under Italian law and marijuana for medical purposes is permitted. However, buying, selling and mass cultivating the herb is illegal and dealers could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

I_FUCK_WHORES_ on September 18th, 2021 at 18:55 UTC »

Met a dude in Rome while backpacking. He was having a smoke outside a sandwich shop and I was drinking. I offered him a beer and he accepted. We used Google translate to communicate. I told him I was from Canada and he brought up how much he loves maple syrup (lol). He asked me what I missed about back home and I said weed. His eyes lit up, he went into the sandwich shop and brought out a hash joint which we shared. I went to go buy a sandwich afterwards and he gave me 2 for the price of 1, along with a lil ball of hash to last me the rest of my trip. He refused money for the hash.

Italy is cool.

Money_dragon on September 18th, 2021 at 17:29 UTC »

One of the things that Italy has done very well is its cultural soft power and exporting its food culture globally.

In fact, a lot of Italian agricultural products are seen as premium products. Wonder if one day we'll seen luxury Italian cannabis lol

WhisperingSideways on September 18th, 2021 at 16:03 UTC »

We legalized in Canada three years ago, and absolutely nothing changed in society except for a lot more cannabis shops. Turns out that people can be trusted with weed and users tend to use it with discretion. Civilization didn’t collapse, accidents didn’t increase, there’s no pot imagery or advertising anywhere and underage use hasn’t really been affected.

I haven’t even been into a legal store yet after three years, because the black market has become the grey market and you can use WeedMaps and get a superior selection and price on anything you want and have it delivered within the hour.