The Fini-Giovanardi law, adopted in Italy in 2006, was one of the strictest drug laws in Europe – as well as one of the reasons for the overcrowding in the country’s prisons.

The Fini-Giovanardi law canceled the legal difference between heavy and light drugs, which meant cannabis offenses were punished in the same way as other drug offenses – very harshly.

In 2014, however, the Constitutional Court partially abrogated the law and reestablished the principles of the previous Iervolino-Vassalli law, which considered cannabis in a special category, but still criminalized its production, consumption and sale.

Progress in court

Last week, the Constitutional Court took another step towards completely ending the 2006 law. The court repealed article 75 bis, which called for harsher administrative sanctions – including imprisonment – for people who have criminal records.

The Constitutional Court has declared this measure contrary to the constitutional principle of homogeneity of the law. The spirit of the current law is to encourage the recovery of drug users, and putting them in jail does not fit with this aim, since it would put an end to the rehabilitation program they could follow.

On the way to legalization?

Cannabis is still far from being legalized in Italy, and indeed the court did not decide on the actual content of the whole law, but rather on its form.

Nevertheless, popular consent to more permissive drug policies is growing and the popular bill Legalizziamo – proposing full marijuana legalization – is collecting more and more signatures, which makes it likely to be discussed by the Parliament in the next few months.

Parma’s mayor, who also took the initiative to open the city’s first cannabis social club, has publicly endorsed this project. It seems that Italy is taking tiny steps towards much-needed reform of its drug policies.