Cannabis, Lazio Regional Administrative Court halts Health Ministry: OK to suspend decree on Cbd

The Lazio Regional Administrative Court has suspended the Health Ministry decree that included oral compositions containing cannabidiol (Cbd) in the table of narcotic substances. In a ruling published today, Wednesday 11 September, the administrative judges upheld the appeal by Ici, Imprenditori Canapa Italia, setting a hearing on the merits for 16 December.

The measure, in short, included the extract of cannabis in the table of narcotic drugs, thus prohibiting its sale in shops, herbalists and tobacconists, but only in pharmacies with a non-repeatable prescription. A similar suspension had come in October 2023.

"The panel of judges," commented Ici, "recognised the validity of our arguments, noting the serious economic and social danger that the application of the decree would have entailed, and decided to suspend its effectiveness pending the judgment on the merits. This decision,' the note continues, 'represents an important victory for the industrial hemp sector, which risked serious economic damage. The judges considered that the application of the decree could have caused significant consequences for entrepreneurs and farmers in the sector, who were already heavily involved in hemp-related investments'. Already in October 2023, the same Tar of Lazio had suspended the decree.