September 20, 2022 In Italy, cannabis use is a well-established habit. Cannabis is the most widely used illegal substance in the country, with around 9.8% of Italians using it, or 6.1 million people.
If citizens’ initiatives to legalize exist, showing popular support quickly stopped by the Constitutional Court, the substantive debate on the legalization of cannabis has never really begun in Italy, despite the fact that the National Anti-Mafia Directorate has spoken in favor of legalization.
On the medical cannabis side, patients face shortages of medical cannabis, most of which is imported. The Italian military is now the only domestic producer, and is failing to meet demand, even as the licensing mechanism is in place to allow other companies to produce.
