Highway Code, Salvini opens a technical table to establish exemptions for medical cannabis users

Ahead of the entry into force of the road safety decree, set for 14 December, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, sent a letter to the ministers of the Interior and Health, Matteo Piantedosi and Orazio Schillaci, and to the undersecretary to the Prime Minister Alfredo Mantovano, with the aim of protecting people undergoing treatment with psychotropic substances with therapeutic protocols, under medical supervision, such as therapeutic cannabis.

The Mit note recalls that the new regulation, which contains the delegation for the organic amendment of the Highway Code, affects, among other things, Article 187, which regulates penalties for driving under the influence of drugs. It is an amendment that was also drawn up after extensive discussions with the trade associations as well as with representatives of the other administrations concerned, and it stipulates that the mere fact of having taken and subsequently tested positive for drugs will lead to punishment. In the past, on the other hand, it was necessary to prove the state of alteration in order to be able to impose a penalty, a proof which in reality was very difficult if not impossible.

Salvini therefore,' writes the MIT, 'in order to protect these citizens, and after fruitful discussions with doctors and other experts, has asked for a working group to be set up to establish any exceptions or detailed rules that would make it possible to identify, through interpretation, hypotheses of non-penalty, duly certified by the treating doctor, for patients subjected to pharmacological treatment that - in terms of the active ingredient, dosage, duration of time and the patient's general psychophysical condition - is suitable for not impairing their fitness to drive.