Italy: Health Minister suspends decree classifying CBD as a narcotic

Relief for Italy's CBD. The Ministry of Health has rescinded the decree which, from October 30, would have given the coup de grâce to the Italian market for hemp flowers with a low THC content, by classifying CBD as a narcotic.

Apparently published in preparation for the introduction on the Italian market of Epidiolex, an oil with a high CBD content prescribed for specific forms of epilepsy, the original decree implied that CBD should be considered a narcotic even in industrial products where the compound is present in smaller quantities.

The decree stipulated that «compositions for the oral administration of cannabidiol obtained from cannabis extracts» fall within the table of «medicinal products based on narcotic active substances».

On October 28, the Ministry of Health therefore signed the a new decree which suspends the previous one, with the intention of convening a working group to address the issue «systematically and comprehensively».

In particular, it invites the Institut Supérieur de la Santé and the Conseil Supérieur de la Santé to express their views, with a global re-evaluation, on the updating of the drug tables and to assess «whether the effects of the active substance cannabidiol remain unchanged regardless of the percentage of its use».