Giorgia Meloni seems to have found a new battle to fight. And it's not about migrants or the economy. No, this time it's the hemp to end up in the government's crosshairs, with an iron fist ready to crush the hopes of an entire emerging agricultural sector. According to a recent article in the Financial Times, a battle that not only concerns the “light” plant of today, but which has its roots in the history of Italy, linking itself to the figure of Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator who in the 30s promoted the cultivation of hemp for reasons of “autarchy” during the Second World War. But what's behind it to this crusade? And what are the impact for young Italian farmers and entrepreneurs?
Melons and light hemp: the Government's crusade
Rumours that the Meloni government is preparing a Total ban on all cannabis flowers in Italy are becoming more and more concrete. We are not just talking about ban psychoactive cannabis (the infamous “marijuana”), but also the industrial hemp, the “light” one, which has found a growing market in Italy as a natural and healthy product. This variety of hemp is used in numerous sectors, from green building to the cosmetics, passing through the sector feed and energy renewable. It is a plant that has been shown to carry numerous environmental benefits: resists pests, absorbs toxic metals from the soil and reduces carbon emissions, in addition to being an excellent source of biofuel and compostable cellulose. Furthermore, industrial hemp has a very low THC content, insufficient to cause psychoactive effects, but is rich in CBD (cannabidiol), a substance that has pharmacological applications, useful against pain, insomnia and stress.
This law has been included in a broad security decree, which was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in September and is expected to pass the Senate early in the new year. In short, in one fell swoop, the government seems intent on eradicating years of growth for the hemp industry in Italy, which employs about 30 people in Italy.
Mussolini and Hemp: A Dive into the Past
But it is not the first time that hemp has been talked about in Italy. During the fascist regime, Benito Mussolini promoted the cultivation of hemp for reduce dependence on cotton imports and strengthen the country's self-sufficiency. The plant's fibres were used to produce ropes, sails, fabrics and paper, becoming a symbol of economic autarchy. Italy became one of the leading manufacturers world’s largest hemp producer, second only to the Soviet Union. But in the years that followed, hemp cultivation collapsed, replaced by synthetic fibers and a growing demonization of the plant, fueled by global anti-drug movements.
Only in 2016, with the legalization of industrial hemp cultivation low in THC, Italy has begun to rediscover the potential of this plant in an ecological and sustainable way. Thus, what was a symbol of fascist autarchy has become, albeit with a different spirit, an emblem of green innovation.
The Farmers' Revolt
Meanwhile, hemp cultivation has returned to being a small but thriving industry, with a annual turnover of 500 million euros and the involvement of approximately 3.000 Italian companies. This sector, which ranges from fabrics to creams, from medicines to green building, is supported by young farmers such as Leonardo Rocchetti, an entrepreneur who grows hemp in Terumo, a small town 260 km from Rome. “We have a huge problem,” he explains, worried about the future of his company, which invested 400 thousand euros to grow hemp in a 5.000 square meter greenhouse, and which had a turnover of 500 thousand euros a year.
For many as Andrea Giametta, co-founder of Weedzard, CBD is the key to a healthy product that relaxes, without causing any psychoactive effects: “CBD relaxes you, but it doesn't get you high.” However, he writes Ft, for the Meloni Government – whose roots lie in the post-war neo-fascist movement founded by Mussolini's faithful survivors – light cannabis is seen as a "Trojan horse" of soft drugs, a threat to public safety that requires rapid intervention.
A supply chain at risk of extinction
The farmers' association Coldiretti tried to mediate with the government, proposing a solution that allows the cultivation of hemp for industrial purposes, but blocks recreational use. However, growers fear that even such a measure could seriously damage the industry, which has already suffered from decades of neglect. The Cia (Italian Confederation of Farmers) has denounced the risk that the new measure endangers not only agricultural companies, but also thousands of jobs, with heavy economic losses for the entire sector.
If the law were to pass, many growers would already be thinking about move to countries such as Republic czech and France, where hemp cultivation continues to thrive. “It would be a catastrophe for the entire industry,” he says Jacob Chiaramoni, another young farmer, who fears the establishment of unfair competition from other European countries. “If France, Germany and other countries can do it, why not Italy?”
Meloni's current policy seems to want to reverse a trend of economic and ecological renaissance in its current form, which is evident from the arguments against drugs which do not include multiple non-psychoactive uses of the plant.
Fabien from CBDtech