Council of State upholds appeal: cannabis companies can work

The Council of State upheld the appeal of a number of industrial hemp companies, suspending the effectiveness of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court's ruling on cannabidiol and allowing them to work. The Tar had deemed legitimate the Ministry of Health's decree of 27 June 2024 that included oral cannabidiol-based compositions among narcotic medicines, on the basis of the precautionary principle. Palazzo Spada, on the other hand, recognised the risk of serious economic and employment damage. 'A first recognition of the critical legal issues raised,' say lawyers Giuseppe Libutti, Sergio Santoro and Michele Trotta.

"The Council of State today certifies what we have been denouncing for months: the rule contained in the Security Decree is illegitimate, punitive, ideological and profoundly unjust. The rule contained in the Security Decree has turned thousands of entrepreneurs into Pablo Escobar". This was stated by Angelo Bonelli, AVS deputy and co-spokesperson for Europa Verde, commenting on the Council of State's decision to suspend the effects of the Lazio TAR ruling on cannabidiol. 'The Council of State,' Bonelli observes, 'speaks of serious economic and employment prejudice: it is the clearest possible denial of a blind and ideological policy. This government does not fight the real mafias, but takes it out on those who work legally, destroying jobs and creating uncertainty. "This right wing has deliberately chosen to criminalise a legal sector that employs around 30 thousand people: a sector made up of young people, farmers, small and medium-sized enterprises, innovation and ecological reconversion. This is yet another defeat for the Meloni government and its ideological fury,' he concludes.