Cannabis in Italy

Italy has never legalized recreational cannabis, but it does not prosecute people for using it either. Under Article 75 of Presidential Decree 309/1990, buying, importing or holding cannabis for personal use is an administrative offense handled by the local prefecture. For cannabis, the prefect can suspend a driving license, passport or firearms license, or a non-EU visitor's tourist permit, for one to three months. A first, minor case can end with a formal warning instead. Selling, sharing and supplying remain crimes under Article 73, with two to six years in prison for non-minor cases.

There is no legal home grow. In judgment 12348/2020, filed on 16 April 2020, the Court of Cassation's joint chambers held that minimal, rudimentary cultivation at home, clearly for the grower alone, is not a crime. The court set no plant number, police still seize plants, and each case is decided on its own facts.

The "cannabis light" market that grew after the 2016 hemp law has been shut down on paper. Since 12 April 2025, Article 18 of Decree-Law 48/2025, confirmed by Law 80/2025, bans importing, processing, transporting and selling hemp inflorescences and products derived from them, whatever their THC. The ban is under legal attack: the Constitutional Court has a public hearing on a referral from the Tribunal of Brindisi on 21 October 2026, and the Council of State has sent related questions to the EU Court of Justice. In a separate case, it referred a June 2024 decree classing oral CBD as a prescription medicine to the EU court in August 2026. Seed- and stalk-derived CBD products, hemp food and accessories remain on sale.

Medical cannabis is the only legal route to THC. Any doctor registered with the medical order can prescribe it on a non-repeatable magistral prescription, and a pharmacy with a galenic laboratory prepares it as a decoction, an oil or ground flower for vaporizing. The national products come from the Military Chemical-Pharmaceutical Plant in Florence: FM2 (5–8% THC, 7.5–12% CBD) since December 2016 and the higher-THC FM1 since 2018. Its 2026 production quota is 400 kg, far below demand, so most supply is imported, mainly from the Netherlands. Whether the national health service pays is decided region by region.

Driving rules tightened on 14 December 2024, when Law 177/2024 made driving after taking drugs punishable without proof of impairment. In judgment 10/2026, filed in January 2026, the Constitutional Court upheld the rule but limited it to substance levels scientifically able to impair an average driver.

For visitors the practical picture is simple: there are no shops or clubs where THC cannabis can be bought legally, hemp flower in shops can be seized, and cannabis bought legally in Switzerland, Germany or the Netherlands becomes illegal on entering Italy. Police confiscate cannabis on the spot and report the holder to the prefecture. Patients traveling with prescribed cannabis should carry their prescription and, from another Schengen state, the Schengen certificate for controlled medicines. This page is general information, not legal advice.