Italy
Europe
#23 of 196 worldwide
#8 of 45 in Europe
Personal possession brings administrative sanctions such as licence suspension. Courts have tolerated minimal home growing. Medical cannabis is legal since 2013; a 2025 decree banned the hemp-flower trade.
Score breakdown ▏world average
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Possession · 25%3/10adds 7.5 of 25 points
Possession for personal use is not a crime but an administrative offence under Article 75 of the drug law. There is no fine; instead the prefect can suspend your driving licence, passport or firearms licence for one to three months for cannabis, or issue a formal warning for a first small case. Quantity guidelines help distinguish personal use from dealing.
Personal cultivation · 25%2/10adds 5.0 of 25 points
Cultivation is a crime on paper, but in 2019 the Court of Cassation's united sections ruled that small-scale home growing with rudimentary means, a handful of plants and a modest yield for the grower's own use is not punishable. There is no fixed plant number, so each case turns on the judge.
Punishment & enforcement · 20%4/10adds 8.0 of 20 points
Users face licence suspensions rather than prosecution. Dealing is punished with prison — six months to four years for minor cases involving cannabis, far more for larger ones.
Sharing & gifting · 10%1/10adds 1.0 of 10 points
Handing cannabis to someone else is supply, a criminal offence, though minor cases are treated as a lesser crime. Group purchase for shared use has sometimes been treated as personal use by the courts.
Consumption · 10%2/10adds 2.0 of 10 points
Use itself is not an offence, but being found with cannabis triggers the same administrative sanctions as possession.
Legal access · 10%2/10adds 2.0 of 10 points
No legal adult-use source. Until 2025 low-THC 'cannabis light' flower was sold in thousands of shops; a security decree in April 2025 classified hemp flowers as narcotics regardless of THC content, shutting that trade down pending court challenges.
More context not part of the score
Medical cannabis is grown by the military pharmaceutical plant in Florence and imported under state control. Hemp farming for fibre and seed remains legal; flower production does not.
Prescription medical flower and oils only. Hemp flower and flower-derived products were banned in 2025.
Legal since 2013. Any doctor can prescribe cannabis prepared by pharmacies; reimbursement depends on the region, and supply shortages are frequent.
The sanction for users is itself a civil consequence: loss of a driving licence, passport or residence-permit eligibility for months. Drug-driving rules were tightened in 2024 so that a positive test is enough, without proof of impairment.
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