Italian army grows cannabis

Italy legalized medical marijuana in 2013, so doctors can prescribe it to their patients. However, the treatment is often too expensive to buy legally in pharmacies. Often imported from the Netherlands price of cannabis can be as much as €35 a gram.

The cultivation of marijuana plants for private use is still banned, the army has decided to take matters into its own hands: grow medical cannabis to see how to reduce costs, and therefore the selling price.

The announcement was made in September 2014 and the first harvests arrived in April 2015, as can be seen in a video from Corriere Della Sera.

The plants are grown in a secure military building in Florence, and the army aims to produce 100kg per year. The site also handles plant drying and packaging.

«The aim of this operation is to supply a growing number of patients with a medical product that is not always readily available on the market, at a more attractive price for the user» announces Colonel Antonio Medica. «The price of a gram of cannabis could fall to €15 a gram, maybe €5».

The army lab was chosen for the project because it had all the necessary facilities and could guarantee the safety of the crop. thanks to its monitoring system. It originally manufactured medicines for the Army, and was used to produce 500,000 iodine tablets during the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.