Five billion euros, to which over 700 million savings should be added on the activities of the judiciary and police which so far were linked to his persecution: this is what the tax regulation of the trade of light cannabis to the coffers of the Italian state would benefit, according to a study by the University of Messina relaunched by the deputy of Italia Viva Massimo Ungaro during a parliamentary question. According to Matteo Renzi's party, regularizing the marketing of the controversial plant would not only be consistent with law no. 242 of 2016 which has already allowed and regulated its cultivation (of the "sativa" quality, the one considered a non-narcotic substance), but would bring obvious economic benefits, precisely in the weeks in which any useful income is sought to compose the puzzle of the maneuver.
“This substance – Ungaro argued – today it is freely accessible, even for minors, being marketed without limitation in points of sale or through online channels". A situation that not even the recent sentence of the Cassation (May 2019), referring to the judge of merit the verification of the psychotropic effects of the substances sold, has helped to clarify. To date there is only a circular from the Ministry of the Interior dated 31 July 2018, which set the limit of 0,5% of Thc beyond which the inflorescences are considered narcotic substances, but as regards the diffusion, we then witnessed to the spread of hundreds of hemp shops, whose activity is not precisely regulated.
The proposal of Italia Viva is therefore of a taxation similar to that of tobacco: “Based on a price of around 10 euros per gram – explained Ungaro during his speech in the Chamber -, the revenue for the State would be around 5 billion euros”. To this are added, as mentioned, others 768 million reduction in public spending, of which 540 million for the prison judiciary and 228 million for public order and security operations.
