(ANSA) - Rome, May 9 - Deputy Premier and Interior Minister
Matteo Salvini said Thursday that his drive to close all of
Italy's 'cannabis shops' has started with the closure of three
stores in central Italy.
These shops sell 'cannabis light' - hemp flowers and products
that have an extremely low level of the psychoactive compound in
normal marijuana that makes people high.
"I thank the police and the judiciary because three cannabis
shops are being closed in Macerata, Porto Recanati and
Civitanova Marche," League leader Salvini told a rally in
Pesaro.
"A war starts today, street by street, shop by shop, district
by district, city by city.
"I don't want dealers, drugs are bad for you".
Salvini said he would issue a directive telling police chiefs
in other parts of the country to repeat what happened in the
province of Macerata.
This issue, however, looks set to be the latest in a series
of questions to expose differences between Salvini's League and
its government coalition partner, the 5-Star Movement (M5S).
Indeed, Interior Ministry Undersecretary Carlo Sibilia, a M5S
member, said he was bemused by the drive.
"I don't see why they should be closed," Sibilia said.
"The State should be supportive of small and medium-sized
enterprises.
"You can't get up in the morning and close shops. We should
work to have shops opening".
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio, meanwhile said it was "crazy" to
think that the movement was in favour of drugs, after Salvini
said the issue could spark a government crisis.
Di Maio said Thursday "evidently after seeing the latest
polls showing the Movement recovering the League went into
paranoia".
"It's no accident that they started talking about school
uniforms, weapons, provinces and now they even go so far as to
invent that we're in favour of drugs, which is just crazy to
even think of".
"And you'll see that in a little while they'll start throwing
out other provocations" ahead of the European elections.
"I'm really sorry they're going so far, talking trash about
everything so as to try to win back some more votes.
"The League is provoking us so as to recoup consensus," he
said.
Salvini earlier called on the M5S to pull a proposal for
"free cannabis".
Three stores closed in 'war on cannabis'
But M5S's interior undersecretary Sibilia bemused by move