A coalition of Italian hashish organizations has unveiled a wide-ranging technique to withstand the federal government’s ban on hemp flowers, calling it unconstitutional, economically harmful, and opposite to EU legislation.

The coordinated response comes after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration bypassed Parliament final week to enact a “Safety Decree” that immediately reclassified industrial hemp flowers — no matter THC content material — as narcotics, successfully outlawing their cultivation, sale, and possession and primarily banning non-psychoactive cannabinoids like CBD, CBG, and CBN..

Trade advocates say the abrupt transfer threatens as much as 30,000 jobs and imperils greater than 3,000 companies in a market value almost €2 billion.

In a joint assertion, main hemp associations together with Canapa Sativa Italia Affiliation, Sardinia Hashish Affiliation, Resilienza Italia Onlus Affiliation, and Canapa Italia Entrepreneurs Affiliation, mentioned “the Safety Decree represents a severe and fast risk to all of us; nevertheless, we’re shifting collectively on each authorized and institutional entrance to problem its validity, constitutional legitimacy and consistency with EU legislation.”

Full-court press

The teams introduced a multi-pronged marketing campaign difficult the legality of the decree. Their actions embody:

• Authorized appeals: Quick challenges might be filed with Italy’s Regional Administrative Courts (TAR), alongside motions elevating constitutional questions and invoking EU legislation. Regional governments are being urged to file complaints with the Constitutional Courtroom, citing violations of shared jurisdiction in agriculture and commerce.
• EU engagement: The teams are mobilizing overseas firms — together with non-EU operators — to file formal complaints with the European Fee, aiming to set off pressing scrutiny underneath free-movement-of-goods ideas.
• Civil lawsuits and compensation claims: The coalition is making ready class-action fits underneath Italy’s civil code, in search of emergency injunctions and compensation for financial losses and disruption of authorized enterprise exercise.
• Felony protection and insurance coverage: Within the occasion of prosecutions, the associations pledge full authorized help and can problem expenses as unconstitutional. Additionally they advise stakeholders to acquire authorized insurance coverage to cowl potential litigation prices.
• Grassroots mobilization: Operators are inspired to affix the associations, report enforcement actions, help a authorized fund by means of donations, and assist create a united authorized entrance. Organizers emphasize that early courtroom victories might set precedent with sector-wide influence.

A controversial decree

The decree stems from Article 18 of Italy’s broader Safety Invoice, initially permitted by a legislative committee in mid-2023. It equates low-THC industrial hemp with high-THC marijuana, even if EU guidelines allow hemp merchandise with THC content material beneath 0.3%.

The measure had stalled in Parliament for months amid inside dissent. Citing public security considerations, the Meloni authorities abruptly handed it through decree legislation on April 8, sidestepping additional parliamentary debate. Enforcement is fast, though lawmakers have 60 days to ratify the legislation completely. The ultimate choice might fall to President Sergio Mattarella, who can reject or delay the decree. He has but to publicly categorical any place on the ban.

Critics say the ban violates the Italian Structure by creating authorized uncertainty and criminalizing actions beforehand deemed lawful. Authorized specialists argue it additionally runs afoul of the European Conference on Human Rights and EU commerce guidelines.

“With a stroke of the pen, the federal government has determined to remodel hundreds of sincere entrepreneurs into criminals,” mentioned Imprenditori Canapa Italia, a commerce group. Federcanapa, one other hashish affiliation, warned that the decree lacked scientific foundation and a transitional interval, rendering it doubtless unconstitutional.

EU, trade response

The European Union has repeatedly upheld the legality of low-THC hemp merchandise and CBD underneath inside market legal guidelines. A 2020 European Courtroom of Justice ruling confirmed that CBD isn’t a narcotic, and member states can not prohibit its commerce with out clear well being dangers.

Italian hemp teams have lengthy confronted regulatory whiplash. After legalizing hemp with as much as 0.6% THC in 2016, the federal government issued a sequence of contradictory circulars and decrees, together with an try in August 2024 to reclassify oral CBD as a narcotic — a transfer briefly blocked by an Italian courtroom.

In March 2025, the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee issued a letter of criticism to Rome after listening to testimony from Canapa Sativa Italia, however the European Fee has not but taken formal motion.

As Italy’s authorities presses forward with its crackdown, hemp stakeholders are racing to safe authorized victories and public help. “The collaboration of all operators is important to defend a sector that, in recent times, has confirmed to be a driver of financial and social improvement and a bulwark of the made in Italy,” the group mentioned, urging stakeholders to “be part of forces and show to the establishments and judges that the world of business hemp isn’t keen to silently undergo illogical and unconstitutional selections.”