Italy passes decree banning CBD: Hemp sector on alert

The new Decree Law on Citizen Security approved by the Italian Government on April 4, 2025, promoted by the current right-wing Executive led by Giorgia Meloni (Fratelli d’Italia), imposes severe restrictions that will directly affect the industrial hemp sector and CBD products.

The text includes the controversial article 18, which prohibits the importation, production, transformation, distribution, commercialization and delivery of Cannabis sativa L. inflorescences, including CBD flowers, CBD resins and CBD oils, regardless of their compliance with legal THC limits.

The decree will enter into force imminently after its official publication, as Meloni has activated Article 77 of the Constitution to approve it by urgent means, bypassing parliamentary debate.

With this decision, the Italian government is jeopardizing the development of a fully legal, regulated and growing sector. The measure responds to the prohibitionist line of parties such as Fratelli d’Italia and Lega, which have shown systematic opposition to any form of cannabis regulation, without differentiating between varieties with high THC content and non-psychoactive industrial hemp, legally grown throughout the European Union.

The news has provoked a strong reaction throughout the hemp sector, both in Italy and in the rest of Europe. The provision ignores Italian Law 242/2016, which allows the cultivation and marketing of industrial hemp; contradicts the European legal framework, which authorizes its free circulation as long as the THC content is less than 0.3%; and violates the principle of free movement of goods in the common market, also affecting operators in other countries where non-psychoactive hemp is fully legal.

What will happen now with hemp in Italy?

Meloni has activated Article 77 of the Constitution, which allows him to issue decrees of “necessity and urgency”, bypassing parliamentary debate. Once the decree is officially published in Gazzetta Ufficiale, it will enter into force immediately, with no waiting period.

From the moment it is published in the Gazzeta, the cultivation, transformation, commercialization and possession of hemp flowers (even with legal levels of THC) will be considered a criminal offense in Italy. This means that companies in the CBD sector may face criminal consequences if they continue to operate with products derived from hemp flowers.

Parliament will have 60 days to amend, ratify or reject the text, although the ban will already be legally enforceable. The decree expressly refers to Title VIII of the Decree of the President of the Republic no. 309/1990, also known as the Testo Unico sulle Sostanze Stupefacenti, which regulates criminal offenses related to drugs and prohibited substances in Italy.

During this period, associations such as Canapa Sativa Italia and Federcanapa are actively mobilizing to demand the withdrawal or revision of Article 18, warning of the serious economic, social and legal consequences that its application would have for the entire industrial hemp chain.

The European Commission has already opened an investigation to assess the compatibility of this rule with EU law, following complaints from the Italian hemp sector. President Sergio Mattarella can still enact or veto it.

Why is this measure so serious?

• It criminalizes a legal product with no psychoactive effect, recognized by European legislation as industrial hemp.
• It ignores Italian law 242/2016, which allows the cultivation and commercialization of THC hemp within legal limits. In Italy, Law 242/2016 establishes that the THC content in industrial hemp must not exceed 0.2%. However, a natural fluctuation of up to 0.6% is tolerated without penalties for farmers, provided that certified seeds are used and the established conditions are met.
• It contradicts the European legal framework, which authorizes the cultivation and free movement of industrial hemp within the common market. The case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union has reiterated that Member States cannot ban hemp products legally produced and marketed in other EU countries, as long as they comply with common standards.
• It violates the principle of free movement of goods, one of the pillars of the European single market, affecting operators in countries where non-psychoactive hemp is fully legal.
• It puts at risk more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs in Italy, which depend on an emerging, sustainable and rapidly developing sector.
• It destroys a market valued at more than 500 million euros per year, especially focused on the sale of hemp flowers, with low THC.
• It generates legal uncertainty throughout Europe, as it represents a step backwards in relation to the regulatory evolution that has been recognizing industrial hemp as an agricultural raw material, legal and with multiple sustainable applications.

Article 18: a total prohibition of cannabis

The prohibition of hemp flowers is part of the Security Decree Law, a package of 34 articles promoted by the government of Giorgia Meloni. The text not only targets cannabis: it also includes measures such as evictions without warrants, repression of protests and legal protection for prosecuted police and military.

As for hemp, Article 18 of Legge Sicurezza Decree 2025 provides for the prohibition of the cultivation, processing and marketing of Cannabis sativa L. flowers, even when their THC content is within the legal limits.

This means that hemp flowers – even with THC levels below 0.3%, as allowed by European law and Italian Law 242/2016 – would be banned throughout the Italian territory. An unprecedented measure in the European Union, which threatens to criminalize an entire legal and consolidated industry.

This is not the first time that the Italian Executive has tried to attack industrial hemp. In 2023, the Italian Ministry of Health already tried to include CBD in the list of narcotic drugs, but the decree was suspended by the Lazio Regional Administrative Court for lack of scientific basis. But far from rectifying, the government has intensified its strategy.

It should be noted that this new regulation not only affects the Italian market, but also has immediate implications for Spanish and European hemp companies operating with Italy, which will no longer be able to claim the legality of the origin of products coming from Italy, thus legally weakening their circulation within Europe.

Paradoxically, the news comes in the month in which Italy’s most important hemp fair, the Indica Sativa Trade Fair, is held in the city of Bologna, from April 11 to 13.

In short, a measure that clashes with reality. Hemp flowers are not a dangerous drug and do not pose a risk to public health. On the contrary, CBD is neither addictive nor psychoactive, and its regulation not only does not pose a danger, but also provides guarantees and control to a market that already exists.

Banning hemp flowers does not protect citizens: it only harms farmers, companies and consumers. Insisting on a prohibitionist policy against non-psychoactive hemp has no scientific, logical or legal basis.

At Cannactiva, we support a coherent regulation, based on evidence, common sense and the principles of the European single market. Hemp is an opportunity, not a threat.