About a month before the start of Canapa Mundi, the International Hemp Fair, which every year attracts professionals in the hemp sector, consumers and enthusiasts of the plant with multiple uses to Rome, after 10 years the organizers announced the stop “for Force Majeure Reasons” since the “recent circumstances have led to a situation of uncertainty”. The organizers report that the main motivation is to protect exhibitors and participants from unpleasant situations such as the one that occurred last year which saw the repeated raids of a large number of law enforcement officers who took more than 500 samples from the products sold and which, essentially, highlighted only minimal irregularities throughout the fair.
In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the removal of cannabis from the list of narcotics and the inclusion of some preparations in the list of substances with therapeutic value and low risk of abuse and in 2020 the Court of European Union justice has stated that products based on CBD, cannabidiol, the active ingredient of cannabis-light, must not be considered as narcotics.
In 2021 the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) authorized the use and reimbursement of the drug Epidyolex which contains cannabidiol as an additional treatment of epileptic seizures.
In August 2023 the Ministry of Health also included CBD-based products for oral administration in the consolidated law on narcotics, in October the Lazio Regional Administrative Court suspended the provision following an appeal produced by the Italian Hemp Entrepreneurs Association.
On January 16, the State Attorney’s Office, while confirming the stop, postponed the hearing pending the opinion of the Higher Institute of Health.
A study conducted by three important Italian researchers, and then published in the European Economic Review magazine, highlighted the effects of the legalization of cannabis-light to the detriment of organized crime and the illegal market. In the provinces with a greater presence of legal hemp retailers, fewer marijuana seizures occurred, with a reduction of approximately 11% for each cannabis shop present in the area.
According to the Canapa Sativa Italia Association, the sale of cannabidiol-based products could reach 1.5 billion per year in Italy as in France, with a supply chain that already employs around 15 thousand people.
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