The home growing of marijuana in
small quantities for personal use is OK, the supreme Court of
Cassation has ruled.
The December 19 ruling said that "it is not a crime if the
cultivation of minimal quantities (of marijuana) takes place in
a domestic form, for exclusively personal use".
The ruling was met with general favour in the Italian
political world.
Senator Matteo Mantero of the ruling anti-establishment
5-Star Movement (M5S) said "the Cassation Court has paved the
way, now it's up to us to move towards full legalisation of
marijuana use".
The leader of +Europa, Benedetto Della Vedova, called the
sentence "full of reasonableness".
He said "a taboo has been broken, and now we can move
forward, with legal cannabis we would have more security and
safety and billions for the State taken form organised crime".
But centre-right and rightwing parties spoke of "a slippery
slope".
"It's the thin edge of the wedge, and cannabis is a notorious
gateway drug," they said.
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