Italy Strikes Down Cannabis Laws As Unfair

[LongHairBri]

Italy Cannabis Law: Italian Court Strikes Down Drug Ruling Equating Marijuana To Heroin

 

Reuters

 

Posted: 02/13/2014 8:41 am EST Updated: 02/13/2014 9:59 am EST

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Cannabis displayed after the favourable vote of the bill proposed by Tuscany Region for allowing cannabis to become a legally prescribed drug for medical use on May 2, 2012 in Florence, Italy. (Laura Lezza/Getty Images) | Laura Lezza via Getty Images

 

 

 

Italy Drug Laws Italy Cannabis Law Italian Cannabis Law Reuters Italy Cannabis Italy Overturns Cannabis Law Italy Marijuana Law Italian Drug Laws WorldPost News

 

 

 

 

ROME, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Italy's constitutional court on Wednesday struck down a drug law that tripled sentences for selling, cultivating or possessing cannabis and which has been blamed for causing prison overcrowding.

The constitutional court said the law, which was passed in 2006 by Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government, was "illegitimate", without giving further details. Some estimates suggest 10,000 people may be released from jail as a result.

The law was the primary cause of Italy's prison overcrowding problem, according to prison rights group Antigone, which said that 40 percent of all inmates were serving sentences for drug crimes.

Italian jails are the most crowded in the European Union, with around 62,000 detainees held in cells built for fewer than 48,000, according to official data.

The law classified marijuana and hashish as equal, in legal terms, to cocaine and heroin, raising sentences for cultivation, sale and trafficking to 6-20 years from 2-6 years previously.

After the court's ruling, the drug law previously in place will automatically take effect, under which crimes related to "hard" drugs like cocaine and heroin carry lengthier sentences than cannabis.

Neither law made it a criminal offence to consume cannabis but both outlawed its possession.

"The so-called drug war as conceived in North America has been lost and it's time to return to rational rules that distinguish between substances," Franco Corleone, of the human rights group Society of Reason, told Reuters.

Senator Carlo Giovanardi, one of the original architects of the stricter law, said the ruling was a "devastating choice from a scientific viewpoint and in the message it sends to young people that some drugs are less dangerous than others". (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

 

[Wild Bill]

"The so-called drug war as conceived in North America has been lost and it's time to return to rational rules that distinguish between substances," Franco Corleone, of the human rights group Society of Reason, told Reuters.

:goodjob: :goodjob: :goodjob:

[+washtenaut]

 

 

Senator Carlo Giovanardi, one of the original architects of the stricter law, said the ruling was a "devastating choice from a scientific viewpoint and in the message it sends to young people that some drugs are less dangerous than others". (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

 

Sending that message to young people is absolutely the truth and is the message that should be sent to anyone over the age of 5. 

 

As a country, the USA was right at this point before Reagan got elected and Nancy Reagan came up with the 'just say no' campaign.  The whole discussion at the time surrounded hard drugs vs soft drugs.  'Just say no', while a catchy slogan, blurred the lines between hard and soft and grouped everything, all drugs, into the same category. 

 

We took a giant step backwards concerning cannabis legislation at that time.  Let's try to avoid that this time around, eh?

[cristinew]

 

I now have absolute proof that smoking even one 

marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being

on Bikini Island during a hydrogen bomb blast"

Ronald Reagan

 

 

[Wild Bill]

 

I now have absolute proof that smoking even one 

 

marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being

on Bikini Island during a hydrogen bomb blast"

Ronald Reagan

 

Yeah, he had that and Alzheimer's.

[AmishRnot4ganja]

 

 

I now have absolute proof that smoking even one 

marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being

on Bikini Island during a hydrogen bomb blast"

Ronald Reagan

 

 

I wonder what that evidence was? Did he ever say?

[Norby]

Probably when they put the gas masks on the monkeys and gave them nothing but mj smoke for over 2 minutes.  Anything lacking oxygen for that long kills brain cells.

[t-pain]

Some estimates suggest 10,000 people may be released from jail as a result.

jezus christ! 10000 people released from jail!

 

 

i thought this story was just going to be one of the italian judges in some podunk small county , not the main court.

colorado and washington had a WORLD WIDE effect.

[AmishRnot4ganja]

Hooray Colorado and Washington!