A widespread shift to the political right has taken place in Europe in recent years, mainly due to mass immigration and the failing European Union.
CBD Flowers just became the latest target in the crosshairs of the Interior Minister of Italy, Mattea Salvini who said he’s going to war with Cannabis. Salvini – a right-leaning politician who swept to victory in Italy’s recent elections, told reporters he would shutter all legal cannabis stores in the country “one by one,” according to a Grizzle report.
Salvini takes the matter so seriously he even threatened to cause the government to collapse if they fail to comply with his demands. In Salvini’s words, “From today, I’ll go to war on cannabis street by street, shop by shop, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city,” he said. He even claims that legal cannabis in Italy is “a new national emergency,” in his attempts to remove all traces of cannabis from the face of Italy.
However, as with many things in Italy, things aren’t always totally Kosher when it comes to politics. The mafia still exerts disproportionate influence over businesses and politicians, and CBD products are big money in Italy; with an annual turnover of no less than €6.5 million.
That’s bad news for Italian citizens who enjoy using CBD where 300 new cannabis stores were opened in 2018 alone. The CBD sold in Italy contains less than 0.2 percent THC as it comes from industrial Hemp (even though many outlets sell products with 0.6 percent THC). This means it doesn’t get you high in the slightest; a fact that doesn’t concern Mr. Salvini in the slightest.
The Interior Minister of Italy, Mattea Salvini, is one of the cannabis industries greatest critics
Until now, only THC levels were regulated by Italian authorities, and not the manufacturing and marketing of CBD. However, just one day after the minister spoke out against cannabis, police shut down three cannabis stores in the central-Italian city of Macerata.
Italy’s Health Minister Giulia Grillo doesn’t wholly agree with her colleague though. As she said, “We should not give wrong information, because cannabis shops don’t sell drugs,” adding, “I can assess only the health aspect. However, it should be stressed that the concentration of the active ingredient in those products is not such as to have narcotic effects on consumers.”
At the beginning of this year, Senator Matteo Mantero filed legislation permitting Italians to grow up to three cannabis plants for recreational use. It’s no surprise that Salvini wants the law rejected, as he does for CBD and Cannabis expos in Italy. Salvini has no interest in any medical benefits CBD might have, despite the fact it’s helped thousands of people around the world to deal with a variety of mental and physical health issues.
He even linked cannabis use to other hard drugs and claimed his attempts to purge it from Italy’s shores was akin to a war on the mafia. His friend, Antonio Pignataro – the Quaestor of Macerata – agrees with Salvini’s sentiments, as he branded cannabis to be, “the antechamber of hell, the antechamber of heroin and the antechamber of cocaine.”
While it’s still not clear whether or not Salvini will get his way and prevent thousands of Italians from using CBD and Cannabis, he does wield some serious power in the government. And if he was to go through with his threat to topple the government if they don’t acquiesce to his demands, that could present a serious issue later down the line.
