Medical cannabis is taking over Europe, as well as efforts to decriminalize cannabis in numerous countries and at local levels. In a pattern similar to what took place in the U.S., European nations are legalizing cannabis for medical or recreational purposes in a patchwork of new laws.

According to a May 16 press release from Victoria, Australia-based Biortica Agrimed, 21 out of 27 member states of the European Union (EU) legalized medical cannabis.

“The EU situation with respect to legalisation can best be described as fluid, but evolving positively,“ said Tom Varga, CEO of Biortica Agrimed. Biortica Agrimed is a vertically-integrated B2B company  preparing to list on the Australian Securities Exchange with an IPO.

The 27 EU countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Out of those, 21 countries—Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, and Spain—implemented laws to allow for the medical use of cannabis.

Out of those countries, the potential market in Germany is among the most exciting and where investors are circling the most at the current moment.

“Whilst EU law prohibits the commercial sale of cannabis, many countries are taking a more mature approach, and legalising, initially medicinal, and ultimately personal use, with Germany in the lead. 21 out of the 27 EU member states have legalised use of medicinal cannabis,” he said, “and 13 countries have either legalised or decriminalised its personal use.”

Countries like Spain have decriminalized cannabis, while Georgia, Germany, Luxembourg, and Malta have taken steps to legalize adult-use. Countries like Portugal have gone even further by decriminalizing all drugs. Dozens more cities in the EU decriminalized cannabis at the city level.

Part of the purpose of Biortica Agrimed’s report is to support the argument that it’s due time Australia takes note of the potential Down Under. Australia legalized medical marijuana in 2016. According to Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) data, the number of patient approvals for medical cannabis increased sharply. In Australia, doctors can prescribe medicinal cannabis with the approval from the TGA and the relevant State or Territory’s Health Department.

“The EU comprises world class nations, and Australia should take any learnings that we can from the EU.” he said, “We have the benefit, and indeed the privilege, to view how legislative frameworks have been built over-seas, what’s worked and working, and what the Australian industry and legislators should avoid. Australia really can do better.”

“We look forward to continuing to share our global industry research with the Australian industry, our legislators and regulators, to build an industry that we can all be proud of, an industry that puts patient care, safety and outcomes to the fore, ” said Varga.

Cannabis Prevalence in Europe

Cannabis remains the most popular substance used in Europe according to the most recent counts by European data monitors.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction’s (EMCDDA) report, entitled “Cannabis—the current situation in Europe (European Drug Report 2023),” describes cannabis as “by far the most commonly consumed illicit drug in Europe.”

The report cites national surveys which show that 8% of European adults (out of approximately 22.6 million people between 15 and 64 years of age) have used cannabis within the last year. An estimated 1.3% of adults (approximately 3.7 million people) are described as “daily” or “almost daily” consumers.

With the popularity of cannabis continuing to grow, the report notes that this often leads to consumer “problems.” “There remains, however, a need to understand better the kinds of problems experienced by cannabis users, as well as the referral pathways and treatment options available for those with cannabis-related problems,” the report stated.

Germany’s legislation to legalize cannabis took effect on April 1. German lawmakers gave final approval to a recreational weed legalization plan known as CanG recently, making the country the largest in Europe to take the step.

In the German capital of Berlin, cannabis smokers gathered at the iconic Brandenberg Gate to smoke weed and celebrate their new freedoms. Other events were held throughout Europe’s most populous country, including one in front of the Cologne cathedral and others in the cities of Hamburg, Regensburg, and Dortmund.

The patchwork of laws unfolding in the EU show how medical and adult-use cannabis are popular on a global scale, and what Australia could learn from European countries.

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As Germany looks ahead to potentially legalize adult-use cannabis in 2024, another European country is hoping to follow suit. So far, the quick progress and public interest is promising.

Cannabis reform advocates in Italy shared last week that in just one week they reached nearly half of the required signatures needed to place a cannabis legalization measure before the parliament. Campaigning began earlier in December, and advocates have six months to gather the 50,000 total signatures.

The legalization bill, with the translated title “The decriminalization of the cultivation for personal use and in associated form of cannabis,” would allow for individuals to cultivate up to four cannabis plants for personal use and would create cannabis social clubs to grow and distribute to its members. The bill would also allow for individuals to possess up to 30 grams of cannabis, and the current “administrative penalties provided for today, such as the withdrawal of [a driver’s] license and passport, will be abolished,” according to the campaign.

The effort is the second recent push in Italy for cannabis reform. The first looked at cannabis legalization and psychedelic reform back in 2021, though the referendum was ultimately blocked by a top Italian court from going before voters because it did not meet constitutional standards.

Some of the same organizers who supported that first effort, including advocate and former Italian senator Marco Perduca, are once again fighting for this new cannabis-specific effort.

“Despite the defeat we suffered after the collection of signatures with the legal cannabis referendum, we have decided to insist until things change,” Perduca recently said in a translated email to supporters. “Parliament will be forced to listen to us, but only when we have collected 50,000 signatures. Don’t miss your signature to change Italy.”’

Antonella Soldo, a coordinator with one of the petition’s lead advocacy groups Associazione Meglio Legale (Better Legal Association), pointed to the immediate interest and support surrounding the cannabis legislation, calling the response “no coincidence“ in a statement.

“Do you know why this issue is so popular? Because it’s about people’s lives,” Soldo said. “Because every Italian family knows what anti-drug dogs mean in schools, the fear of stigma, of criminalization. The fight against cannabis is nothing more than a useless waste of resources that does not serve to stop the mafias but instead impacts people.”

A growing number of countries in Europe are turning to adult-use cannabis legalization, though Germany has garnered substantial attention recently as it steadily inches forward to ushering in its new era of legal recreational cannabis. Meglio Legale touched on following in Germany’s footsteps in a Facebook post earlier this week, nodding to German Prime Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach’s comment that the initiative is aimed at protecting “the good of young people.”

“And in Italy everything is silent? Not really,” the translated post reads. “A few days ago Better Legal and 30 other associations launched a bill on a popular initiative to ‘do like in Germany’ and legalize domestic cannabis growing.”

According to Soldo, the Italian bill was also inspired by Germany’s legislation.

“In a few months, Germany will legalize the cultivation of cannabis,” she said. “At that point, the Italian Parliament can no longer refuse to acknowledge that prohibition has failed.”

The German draft law would allow residents to grow up to three plants at home, possessing no more than 50 grams of cannabis cultivation at home. The legislation would also allow people to carry 25-30 grams of cannabis in public and 50-60 grams in private. It would also similarly open social clubs to grow and distribute cannabis exclusively to members.

Legalization of cannabis possession and cultivation is set to take effect on April 1, 2024, while cannabis social clubs would be established later in the year.

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An international drug trafficker with possible business ties to a reputed “super cartel” as well as the Italian mafia has handed over the ownership rights to his multi-million dollar private island in an attempt to try and reduce his sentence. 

Known drug kingpin Raffaele Imperiale made headlines in 2016 when police raided one of his homes in Naples and found two original Vincent Van Gogh paintings estimated to be worth more than $58 million each. The paintings had reportedly been stolen in a heist at the Vincent Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam in 2002. He spent five years on the run before being arrested in Dubai in 2021 and extradited to Italy in 2022. 

Imperiale is now staring down the barrow of a lengthy prison sentence after evading arrest in Dubai for several years. He faces over 14 years prison time if convicted, but Imperiale has been cooperating with authorities by giving them information on international crime syndicates he brushed shoulders with during his heyday. According to the Guardian he also offered prosecutors something much bigger: his man-made private island off the coast of Dubai. 

The island called “Taiwan,” not to be confused with the East Asian country, is reported to be worth anywhere from $60 to $80 million. Imperiale is believed to have spent the majority of his time on the run at this island, and on Monday he signed it over to Italian prosecutors.

“It is clear that Imperiale wants sentence reductions,” said the prosecutor, Maurizio De Marco to the Guardian. “We are assessing the validity of his statements, but there seem to be no doubts about their genuineness.”

Imperiale appeared in Italian court Monday alongside 20 other defendants to face charges related to the enormous criminal empire he was allegedly at the helm of. Italian authorities have also alleged Imperiale has close ties to the Camorra mafia family as well as an international “super cartel” that trafficked drugs from South America through five or more European countries including Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates, according to Europol. The super cartel controlled around ⅓ of the cocaine trade in Europe before authorities arrested 49 suspects believed to be associated with the group in 2022. The super cartel was allegedly led by Imperiale and:

• Ridouan Taghi, formerly the most wanted criminal of the Netherlands

• Daniel Kinahan, believed to be the boss of an Irish criminal group

• Bosnian drug trafficker Edin Gačanin.

Authorities have alleged that Imperiale helped run one of the 50 largest drug trafficking operations in the world and had a virtual monopoly secured over nearly all the cocaine produced in Peru. The Guardian said Imperiale got his start running a cannabis cafe in Amsterdam that he inherited from his late brother.

Imperiale led a tale worthy of another Godfather movie during his time as a criminal. He was rumored to have spent over $400,000 every single month while he was on the run in Dubai, according to the Guardian. When Italian authorities searched one of his homes in March, they found over 80 firearms and other weapons, including a grenade and three Kalashnikov rifles, hidden underneath Imperiale’s garage floor. He also had over 5,000 rounds of ammunition, according to Reuters.

Additionally, controversy was stirred up in Italy shortly after Imperiale’s extradition. According to Sunday World, two Italian judicial officers were caught disposing of documents related to the Imperiale case during the course of their job duties. A hidden camera caught the employee putting certain documents into a bin under her desk.

“[They] systematically destroyed, suppressed and concealed, making them untraceable, the following true public documents, represented by documents and / or entire files relating to criminal proceedings pending at the Judicial Offices of the District of the Court of Appeal of Naples,” said officials with the Guardia di Finanza to Sunday World. 

The accused judicial workers told authorities they were trying to lighten their own workload by disposing of the documents, many of which were discovered in the garbage by police who made photocopies of everything. 

No word had yet been released at the time this article was written on whether or not Imperiale’s island offering will have any definitive effect on his sentencing. 

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Researchers in Italy have found evidence that cannabis was used by residents of Milan hundreds of years ago by studying bones from a 17th-century cemetery. In a report on the research, the scientists surmise that weed was likely used recreationally, noting that hospital records from the time do not include cannabis in an inventory of medicinal plants used in Milan in the 1600s.

Medical records from the Middle Ages show that cannabis was used in Europe as an anesthetic and as a treatment for gout, urinary infections and other medical conditions. But in 1484, cannabis was banned in what is now Italy by a decree issued by Pope Innocent VIII. In it, the pope referred to cannabis as an “unholy sacrament” and banned the use of the herb by all Catholics. 

Marco Peruca, a former Italian senator and founder of Science for Democracy, led a referendum to legalize cannabis in Italy in 2021. He told reporters that the papal decree and other bans on cannabis throughout history have led to a stigma against the plant.

“This was a plant belonging to another culture and tradition that was intertwined with religion,” said Perduca, who says it traveled centuries ago to Italy from the eastern Mediterranean.

“So anything and everything that had to do with a non-purely Christian set of rules…was supposed to be linked with paganism and movements not only against the Church, but against the [Holy Roman] Empire.”

Definitive evidence of the use of cannabis in what is now Italy had not been found in the centuries that followed the papal ban. That changed, however, when researchers studied the femur bones from skeletons of people who lived in 1600s Milan. The remains had been buried in the Ca’ Granda Crypt, under a church annexed to the Ospedale Maggiore, the city’s most important hospital for the poor at the time, according to a report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

“We know that cannabis has been used in the past, but this is the first study ever to find traces of it in human bones,” said biologist and doctoral student Gaia Giordano at the University of Milan’s Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and Odontology (LABANOF) and Laboratory of Toxicological Investigation. “This is an important finding, because there are very few laboratories that can examine bones to find traces of drugs.”

Study Investigates Historical Use of Recreational and Medicinal Plants

The research, which was published in the December issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Archaeological Science, attempted to discover traces of plants used for medical or recreational purposes by residents of 17th-century Milan. The results of the research can help fill in the gaps in the historical records of plants used for medicinal or recreational purposes.

“Toxicological investigations on historical and archaeological remains are rare in literature but constitute a different and potent tool for reconstructing the past, and in particular for better understanding remedies and habits of past populations,” the researchers wrote in the introduction to the study. “Archeotoxicological analyses have been performed on hair samples collected from pre-Columbian Peruvian mummies revealing the presence of cocaine or nicotine.”

To conduct the research, scientists studied nine femur bones from the cemetery in Milan. Two of the bones, one from a woman in her 50s and another from a teenage boy, contained traces of the cannabinoids tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), direct evidence that the two people had used cannabis.

“The results obtained on bone samples showed the presence of two molecules, Delta-9-THC and CBD, highlighting the administration of cannabis,” the researchers wrote. “These results, to the best of our knowledge, constitute the first report on the detection of cannabis in historical and archaeological human osteological remains. Indeed, according to the literature, this plant has never been detected in ancient bone samples.”

The researchers note that the findings suggest that people of all ages and genders used cannabis at the time. An analysis of the medical records of the Ospedale Maggiore did not include cannabis among its records of healing plants used at the time, leading the researchers to conclude that cannabis was used recreationally. The researchers believe that cannabis may have been added to foods as a way to relax and escape the realities of the time.

“Life was especially tough in Milan in the 17th century,” archaeotoxicologist Domenico di Candia, who led the study, told the newspaper Corriere della Sera. “Famine, disease, poverty and almost nonexistent hygiene were widespread.”

Italy was a major producer of hemp for use in rope, textiles and paper for centuries. Peruca notes that the popularity of hemp in Italy throughout history makes it likely the plant was also used for its psychoactive effects.

“People used to smoke and make ‘decotta,’ or boiled water, with all kinds of leaves, so it is very difficult to identify what was the habit back then,” Peruca said. “But because hemp was used for so many industries, it’s possible that people knew those plants could also be smoked or drunk.”

This is not the first time the researchers have studied human remains to find evidence of historical drug use. In an earlier study, Giordano found traces of opium in cranial bones and well-preserved brain tissue.

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Law enforcement officials in Uruguay last week said they busted an international drug ring that had a gnarly way of smuggling its contraband: inside surfboards. 

The BBC reports that Uruguayan police have arrested three Italians with the “help from counter-narcotics police in Spain, Portugal and Italy.” 

“Sniffer dogs had alerted officers in Uruguay to six surfboards containing a total of 50kg (110lb) of cocaine,” according to the outlet. “Police allowed one board to be dispatched in order to track down those receiving it.”

More from the BBC:

“The dogs alerted their handlers to the suspicious package on 23 May. Officers said the boards were uncharacteristically heavy and when they passed them through a scanner, they spotted hidden packages inside. A photo supplied by Uruguay’s interior ministry shows white powder spilling from one of the boards after it had been cut open. Two Italian nationals were arrested by police in Portugal as they went to pick up the cocaine-filled surfboard which police had allowed through. A third Italian citizen, who police say dispatched the drugs from Uruguay to Europe, was detained in Italy.”

A report earlier this year from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) found that cocaine production has surged to record highs.

The report said that while drug markets were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, “the most recent data suggests this slump has had little impact on longer-term trends.”

“The global supply of cocaine is at record levels. Almost 2,000 tons was produced in 2020, continuing a dramatic uptick in manufacture that began in 2014, when the total was less than half of today’s levels,” according to the UN report.

The report said that the cocaine “surge is partly a result of an expansion in coca bush cultivation, which doubled between 2013 and 2017, hit a peak in 2018, and rose sharply again in 2021.”

“But it is also due to improvements in the process of conversion from coca bush to cocaine hydrochloride. In parallel, there has been a continuing growth in demand, with most regions showing steadily rising numbers of users over the past decade. Although these increases can be partly explained by population growth, there is also a rising prevalence of cocaine use. Interceptions by law enforcement have also been on the rise, at a higher speed than production, meaning that interdiction has contained the growth of the global amount of cocaine available for consumption,” according to the report.

The BBC reported that drug traffickers “are increasingly using Uruguay, which borders Brazil and Argentina, as a transit country to ship drugs from drug-producing parts of South America to Europe.”

Earlier this year, authorities in New Zealand seized more than $300 million worth of cocaine afloat in the Pacific Ocean, calling it a “major financial blow” to traffickers.

According to New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, it was “one of the single biggest seizures of illegal drugs by authorities in this country.”

“There is no doubt this discovery lands a major financial blow right from the South American producers through to the distributors of this product,” Coster said. “While this disrupts the syndicate’s operations, we remain vigilant given the lengths we know these groups will go to circumvent coming to law enforcement’s attention.”

New Zealand Customs Service Acting Comptroller Bill Perry said the bust was “a huge illustration of what lengths organi[z]ed crime will go to with their global drug trafficking operations and shows that we are not exempt from major organi[z]ed criminal drug smuggling efforts in this part of the world.”

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A ruling by an Italian court earlier this month represents a huge break for the country’s hemp and CBD industry. 

The decision made by the Lazio Regional Administrative Court on February 14 overturned what the panel deemed an “‘absurdly restrictive’ decree [that] meant hemp leaves and flowers were considered narcotics in the eyes of regulators.”

The upshot is that the decision “means that Italy’s national law now no longer contravenes the 2020 Kanavape ruling of the European Union’s Court of Justice (ECJ).”

In that ruling, the Court of Justice of the European Union “ruled that CBD is not a narcotic and that a member state cannot restrict the free movement of CBD products, and that CBD can be derived from the hemp flower.”

The decision by the Lazio administrative court earlier this month also means that Italy’s CBD and hemp industry, which led this court challenge, are now empowered to operate more freely, and without fear of regulatory meddling. 

BusinessCann has more background on the lawsuit that led to the February 14 ruling by the Lazio court:

“In May 2022, four grassroots cannabis industry associations – Canapa Sativa Italia, Sardinia Cannabis, Resilienza Italia Onlus and Federcanapa – filed an appeal against a Ministerial Decree issued in January 2022. The decree in question amended an earlier decree from 2018 regarding the cultivation, harvesting and processing of medicinal plants. Effectively, the 2022 amendment sought to place the cultivation, processing and marketing of ‘non-narcotic’ hemp flowers and leaves back under the umbrella of narcotics, meaning operators would be required to seek authorisation from the Ministry of Health, or face penalties.”

Recreational cannabis remains illegal in Italy, although it is decriminalized. 

An effort in Italy last year to legalize recreational pot was stymied on legal grounds, when the country’s Constitutional Court “rejected a request to hold a referendum on legalising the cultivation of cannabis, provoking the ire of promoters who called the decision a blow to democracy,” according to Reuters.

The proposed referendum “sought to legalise the growing of weed for personal use and ease sanctions on other cannabis-related crimes, with offenders no longer risking prison sentences for selling small amounts of the drug,” Reuters reported at the time, noting that the court’s president “said the referendum included other narcotics considered to be hard drugs, which could not be liberalised.”

Medical cannabis, however, is legal in Italy, and its production is the exclusive domain of the country’s military.

The Italian army has a directive to grow 700 kilograms, or a little more than 1,500 pounds, of medical marijuana this year as it acts as the chief overseer of the cultivation. 

Medical cannabis that is not grown domestically by the Italian army is typically imported from other European countries, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. 

The army’s ramp-up of cannabis production is designed to make Italy’s medical marijuana program more self-sufficient.

“The next step is self-sufficiency — that’s our ambition,” Nicola Latorre, who leads the Italian agency overseeing the cannabis operation, told DefenseNews last month.

But this month’s ruling by the Lazio Regional Administrative Court could also have implications on that arrangement.

Cannabis industry representatives told BusinessCann that the Italian Ministry of Health has taken a more positive position toward the importation of cannabis-based products, a shift that suggests “that the Italian army’s monopoly on cultivation of medical cannabis in Italy, which has consistently been unable to supply enough product to meet demand, could soon be broken.”

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Italy is turning to its military to help make its legal medical marijuana program self-sufficient. 

DefenseNews reports that the Italian army intends to produce “700 kilograms (1,543 pounds) of top-grade cannabis to cover nearly half of the 1,500 kilograms (3,307 pounds) required annually in the country for those in need of pain relief, such as people with cancer or Parkinson’s disease.” 

“The next step is self-sufficiency — that’s our ambition,” Nicola Latorre, who leads the Italian agency overseeing the operation, told DefenseNews.

According to the outlet, Italy imports cannabis that is not grown by the army from Holland, Canada, Denmark and Germany, but that the military is “ramping up at an anonymous-looking Army facility on the edge of Florence.”

DefenseNews explains that the facility near Florence was opened in 2014 and it “managed 50 kilograms in 2020 before rising to 300 kilograms in 2022.” 

In order to meet its goal of roughly 1,500 pounds in 2023, “technicians are perfecting lighting, watering, temperature and ventilation, and they are using a blend of secret nutrients developed in-house that are mixed in with the hydroponic irrigation.” 

The Italian army’s role in medical cannabis production is nothing new. 

The country announced back in 2014 that “the army would help increase the production of medical marijuana, with the first secure growing facility unveiled in Florence” in April of 2015, according to The Independent. 

The Independent reported in 2016 that the country’s army began “growing large crops of cannabis in order to force the price of the drug down to about €8 per gram.” 

“It is hoped the sterile chamber [in Florence] will produce up to 100kg of cannabis every year, strictly for use by cancer patients, multiple sclerosis sufferers and those with other medical conditions which could be alleviated by the drug,” The Independent reported at the time. 

Colonel Antonio Medica, who was overseeing the cannabis production by the Italian army, said that “the army had been entrusted with the task due to the guarantee of tight security and because it has been involved in pharmaceutical matters since the 1800s, providing medicines and treatments for injured soldiers.”

Italy legalized medical cannabis nearly a decade ago, but it has long depended on imports of the crop in order to satisfy the demand within its borders. 

Col. Gabriele Picchioni, who is overseeing the cannabis facility in Florence for the Italian Army, told DefenseNews that the lab “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 the dosage is unvaried, at the same price as we are now paying for imports,” Picchioni said. 

The reasons for tasking the country’s army with the cannabis production are two-fold: “to produce cannabis at a secure facility, and because the armed service has been in the pharmaceutical business for decades, turning out chemical warfare antidotes and malaria pills for soldiers.”

The army also “manufactures so-called orphan drugs — medicines for rare diseases or conditions that big companies ignore because of the low production rates,” making “four such drugs to supply 3,000 people in Italy.”

“As cannabis production ramps up, the Army has registered two types of marijuana it harvests as brands: FM1 and FM2, which stand for ‘Farmaceutico Militare’ (or ‘Military Pharmaceutical’ in English). Each contains a different level of tetrahydrocannabinol, the compound that gives pot its high,” DefenseNews said.

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An international drug network shipping cocaine from Latin America, ketamine from Lithuania into the Netherlands, and cannabis smuggled from North Africa through Spain has just been busted by an operation conducted under the jurisdiction of Europol called Eurojust.

Italy’s interior ministry said that they had issued warrants against 31 people—most of whom were Italian nationals. About $150,000 in cash as well as over 150 kilos of illicit drugs were also seized. The bank accounts of two transport companies were also commandeered as they had allegedly been used to launder money from the operations.

The investigation began with the identification of two restauranteurs in Milan suspected of drug trafficking. Participants in the crime network attempted to hide their identities by using characters from films, literature and well-known artists including Obi-Wan Kenobi, Pinocchio, and even the street artist Banksy.

The Future of Coordinated European Drug Busts in The Age of Legalization

Authorities in Europe have not let up on drug investigations or busts, even on the eve of cannabis legalization in several countries. This includes three massive arrests in Spain over the last year. Indeed, Spanish authorities have identified Catalonia, home to Barcelona and the majority of Spain’s cannabis clubs, as the epicenter of Europe’s illegal weed market. Spain is also a major transit point for cocaine shipped in from Latin America and hash from Morocco.

However, the situation allowing such coordination is unlikely to hold without some modification thanks to the movement of cannabis reform across Europe. Indeed, in Spain alone, both mega busts of the last 12 months were of farms spread out over many acres and in situations where the cultivators had previously told police that what they were doing was sanctioned (i.e. growing industrial hemp, which is legal in Spain).

How will international police agencies in Europe be able to investigate sophisticated criminal networks that include cannabis once cannabis starts to become legal across the region?

That question alone is one that the police are also asking, which is why, apart from the driving issue, they have been so anti-reform across Europe.

Cross Border Trade and Changing Regulations

One of the more interesting (or dangerously harrowing) discussions now front and center across Europe is how authorities will be able to tell illegal cannabis from the kind that is bound for legit markets. It is also likely to get very sticky, as the recent bust in Spain proved. Namely, if a company produces a product that is legal in one country and ships it across a border, how safe will it and the receiver be from international attention by Europol?

There are three possible answers to that question.

The first is that legitimate cannabis operations will not be mixed with other drugs—and the chain of title will have been documented clearly.

The second is that legal cannabis distributors and wholesalers in Germany have been receiving shipments of even high THC cannabis flower within Europe for the past several years. That said, most of them, at some point, have also been visited by the local police.

The third is, however, that this entire proposition is about to get more complicated, not less, for both the industry and authorities as of this year. Legalization is setting up a checkerboard of regulations and enforcement problems. Beyond that, a patchwork of regulations complicates this even more. Will it be illegal, in other words, for a producer in Portugal to produce EU GMP cannabis or extract and sell it to an entity in Germany (post legalization) who just intends to sell to the recreational market? How might a newly legit producer in Holland ship to a dispensary in Germany post legalization?

For now, such questions are unanswerable. However, given the unabated zeal of law enforcement in publicizing large busts, and the problems encountered even by legal purveyors so far, expect there to be clashes of the embarrassing and highly litigious kind as legalization in Europe proceeds.

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Prosecutors in Perugia, Italy are now trying to decide how to charge both owners and managers in a horrific industrial accident that killed two people and seriously injured two others. The incident occurred when a “laboratory,” which was set up to create “Cannabis Lite” from high THC cannabis, exploded.

Beyond the strange specifics, this kind of incident is certainly an anomaly in Europe—and not just because of the existence of cannabinoids in this process, but also what the manufacturers were trying to do to it. Not to mention how.

If this case sounds like Colorado, circa 2014, you would be right. In the first summer of state legalization, the Denver Department of Environmental Health ordered a recall from a manufacturer who had made hash in their washing machine to be sold commercially and “legally.” Thankfully, nobody died, and the owners displayed an ignorance that what they were doing was against public health guidelines.

Beyond this incident however, the danger of BHO extractions are an increasing menace in U.S. states where recreational cannabis is now legal. Inexperienced operators are using butane to make hash oil—and horrific accidents and explosions are on the rise.

This case in Italy seems to be a macabre copycat spinoff. What makes this even stranger is the supposed intent of the “manufacturer.”

Criminal Liability and Intent in Italy

In this case, prosecutors are trying to determine how to charge both the managers and owners of the business. It appears that they face, at minimum, charges of gross negligence for failing to warn and train employees about the dangers of what they were doing.

They could end up being charged with either manslaughter or murder.

Here is why. Ultrasonic “washing machines” had been set up to bathe cannabis in pentane to lower the level of THC in the same and thus enable the company to sell the products as “Cannabis Lite.” Further, as described by prosecutors, the method had been both “invented” by one of the partners in the business and further was “devoid of any technical and scientific knowledge and used outside of any authorization.”

Ultrasonic washing machines are commercially available even online. They are mostly used in combination with either water or a non-flammable solvent, to clean items including jewellery, medical instruments, watches, and electronics. They can also be used to clean clothes by removing contaminants and killing bacteria.

This is hardly a process that should be utilized for cannabis destined for human consumption.

Beyond this, their tanks should never be filled with any liquid that is flammable, because it will vaporize causing explosions, fire, or, at minimum, release hazardous gases into the workspace.

Pentane, the solvent used in this case, is a chemical commonly used in the production of polystyrene foam. It is also highly flammable.

For this reason, according to the prosecutor’s office, beyond the danger posed by the “innovation,” the processing was objectively dangerous.

Further, the pentane was not being stored in accordance with regulations, nor was any machinery installed in the lab that could have ameliorated the risks involved with using the solvent for processing.

The Many Odd Circumstances

There are several bizarre aspects to this story—starting with this one: Who would take high THC cannabis and subject it to a chemical solvent and a “cleaning” machine clearly not designed for plants that will be ingested by humans? Further, who would do this to high THC cannabis when there is plenty of hemp available in the country?

Beyond these facts, it is clear that this was not an “invention” as much as an accident waiting to happen.

This tragic incident in Italy is also a warning shot across the bow to others who might be tempted to engage in similar acts of so-called innovation in the future. That said, with the advent of multi-stage recreational reform, it is almost certain that there will be more of them until the entire supply chain for cannabis flowers and the manufacturing processes used to create extracts are fully legitimized and properly overseen.

The post Death in a Cannabis Lab: Italian Prosecutors Investigate Explosion appeared first on High Times.

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With Amsterdam cutting back on cannabis cafes, these countries may soon become must-visits for rolling stoners.

The post 17 countries that could become top weed tourism destinations appeared first on Leafly.

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