“Now it’s up to us”
IL FATTO QUOTIDIANO
To grow cannabis in the home, if the plants are few and for personal use, is not a crime. This was sanctioned by the United Criminal Chambers of the Court at the hearing on 19 December, which was called upon to rule on an appeal lodged on 21 October. The sentence, with the relative motivations, still has to be lodged: but meanwhile the maximum organ of the Court, that makes jurisprudence, has deliberated that they do not constitute crime “small-scale domestic cultivation, which, for the rudimentary techniques used, the small number of plants, the very small quantity of product obtainable, the lack of additional indicators of their inclusion in the drugs market appear to be exclusively intended for the personal use of the grower”. Translated: if the purpose is not the drug dealing but the personal use and does not affect public health, growing marijuana in small quantities is legal.
Already in 2011, the Court of Cassation ruled in a judgment that a single cannabis plant cannot be considered as an offensive plant, since “is not likely to endanger the good of public health or public safety” and so it’s legal. On the other hand, however, the Council, which has repeatedly spoken on the subject, has over time set a clear line: growing plants from which drugs are extractable is always a crime, regardless of quantity and destination of use. Last there is the sentence of n. 109/2016 that states that“does not violate the Constitution the incriminating case of the cultivation of cannabis for personal use“. The kits for the cultivation of cannabis seeds on the balcony of the house are now very widespread, sold also online on specialized sites of internet, but ran risks from a legal point of view, So far, there has never been any real openness in this direction at the legal level. After this decision, for Giovanni D'Agata, President of the Office for Human Rights, it is time for the legislator to take a definitive position on whether or not to legalise cannabis and its derivatives.
Mantero (m5s): “The Court of Cassation has opened the way, now it is up to us”
“Once again, jurisprudence acts as a cowardly legislator. The Cassation has opened the way, now it is up to us“, says Senator M5s Matteo Mantero on fb. “Until this historic ruling, buying cannabis from the drug dealer, feeding crime and risking one’s health with dubious products, did not constitute a criminal offence, while growing some plants on your own balcony for personal use could cost“prison. Now, Mantero continues, “puts an end to the all-Italian distortion of a law that delivered the monopoly market of soft drugs into the hands of the mafia. Now it’s time for the legislator to wake up, stop avoiding your own you have to and decide to address these issues ‘slippery' or‘divisive' ‘, whatever these adjectives mean”, Mantero writes again. That then concludes: “My proposal to regulate the self production is already in place since the beginning of the legislature, it can be a starting point. Let’s get to work.
The decision of the United Criminal Chambers
The United Criminal Chambers of the Court of Cassation were called upon to decide on an appeal which “for the purposes of the criminality of cultivation of plants from which narcotic substances are extractable, it is sufficient that the plant, conforming to the intended botanical type, is suitable, by degree of ripeness, to produce substance for consumption, not noting the amount of active substance obtainable in the immediacy”. The ermines have stated that the crime “is configurable regardless of the amount of active substance obtainable in the immediacy”. It is therefore sufficient that the plant is compliant to produce narcotic substance for it to be illegal. But they must consider themselves excluded, “because it does not fall within the scope of the criminal law, small-scale domestic cultivation activities, which, for the rudimentary techniques used, the small number of plants, the very small quantity of the product obtainable, the lack of additional indicators of their inclusion in the drug market, appear to be intended exclusively for the personal use of the grower”.
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/12/26/cannabis-le-sezioni-unite-penali-della-cassazione-coltivare-piante-in-casa-non-e-reato-se-sono-poche-e-per-uso-personale/5638516/
