The Italian army plans to produce 700 kilos of cannabis by 2023

For 2023, the Italian army intends to produce «700 kilograms of high quality cannabis» to cover nearly the half of the 1,500 kilos required each year in the country.

«The next step is self-sufficiency - that's our ambition,» declared à DefenseNews Nicola Latorre, who heads the Italian agency overseeing the operation.

Although medical cannabis is legal in Italy, the country currently imports most of its cannabis from the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark and Germany. In 2019, the Canadian company Aurora won the supply of 400 kilos of medical cannabis.

The Italian army is the only local source of supply, thanks to a production site on the outskirts of Florence. and has been producing since 2017 between 30 and 200 kilos of medical cannabis, depending on the year. In 2020, it produced 37 kilos for 3% of the medical cannabis supplied to Italian patients. In 2021, it was at 102 kilos (8% of cannabis supplied). In 2022, at 300 kilos, according to figures given to DefenseNews and not independently verified.

To reach its target of around 700 kilos by 2023, «technicians are perfecting lighting, watering, temperature and ventilation, and using a mix of secret nutrients developed in-house that are blended with hydroponic irrigation.»

«It is hoped that the sterile chamber [in Florence] will produce up to 100 kg of cannabis each year, strictly for patients with cancer, multiple sclerosis and other conditions that could be relieved by the drug.», reported the Italian army in 2016.

Colonel Gabriele Picchioni, who oversees the Florence cannabis facility for the Italian army, told DefenseNews that the laboratory «aims to produce cannabis-infused olive oil, which users can take in drop form».

«What we can do in Florence is produce a highly standardized product so that the dosage is invariable, at the same price we currently pay for imports,» said Picchioni.

The reasons why’the country's army has been put in charge of cannabis production are twofold: «to produce cannabis in a secure facility, and because the armed service has been in the pharmaceutical business for decades, producing chemical warfare antidotes and malaria pills for soldiers».

The army «also manufactures so-called orphan drugs, i.e. drugs designed to treat rare diseases or conditions that large companies ignore because of low production rates». It produces «four such drugs to supply 3,000 people in Italy».

As cannabis production intensifies, the army grows only two varieties of cannabis: FM1 (13% -20% THC <1% CBD) and FM2 (5-8% THC 7-12% CBD), which stand for Farmaceutico Militare.

However, FM1 struggles to match the THC levels of strains such as Bedrocan (a Jack Herer at 22% THC), the best-selling of the company of the same name, The production of FM2, which contains cannabinoid levels similar to Bedrocan's Bediol, has so far been insufficient.