ITALY. 2018. Florence
Military Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant.
Medical marijuana production in Italy is monopolized by the Italian army. Florence’s military pharmaceutical lab (Stabilimento Chimico Farmaceutico Militare di Firenze) is currently the only authorized cannabis producer within Italy.
ITALY. 2017. Rome
Daniele, pharmacist. He takes care to make medicines and galenic preparations with cannabis. The mediciness of cannabinoids may be: vaporization or herbal tea, alcoholic dyes, resins and oily extracts, eye drops, capsules for oral use, suppositories, liquid with THC and CBD for electronic cigarettes (experimental *), cream or transdermal gel.
ITALY. 2017. Rome
Carlo, suffering from anorexia nervosa. He are treated with Cannabis medical from 2015. Carlo, like many others patients, is concerned about the difficulty in obtaining the cannabinoid drug. “it is essential to have therapeutic continuity” said with serious tone “sooner or later I will plant it”
ITALY. 2017. Rome
Galenic pharmacy. Last stocks of cannabis for medical use.
According to patients who received medical cannabis there is enormous difficulty in finding the drug, caused by the exhaustion of the drug stocks. Some patients have filed a complaint to the Italian Ministry of Health and to the Local Health Authority (ASL) asking for them to be granted the right to treatment.
ITALY. 2018. Florence
Military Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant.
In January 2017, the Italian Ministry of Health in agreement with the Italian Ministry of Defense, communicated the introduction on the drug market of a cannabinoids drug called FM-2. The cannabis plantation to produce the FM-2 are entrusted to the Military Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant in Florence.
The army was already responsible for the production of “orphan drugs,” medications that cure rare diseases and are not produced in the market economy.
ITALY. 2017. Rome
Daniele, a third-generation nursery gardeners. About a year ago he decided to expand the family business and take advantage of the new regulatory framework that allows private companies to produce cannabis light, without TCH (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). Daniele with the “light cannabis business” has been able to hire new staff and modernize the facilities of the family nursery. “Floriculture was dying in Italy and now we are growing” says Daniele “It’s a story of rebirth.”
ITALY. 2017. Rome
Carlo, suffering from anorexia nervosa. He are treated with Cannabis medical from 2015.
Prof. Paolo Poli, surgeon, director of the Poli Pain Clinic of Pisa and member of the Italian Cannabis Research Society (SIRCA). According to Prof. Poli, cannabis is a new therapeutic tool for pain therapists and a new possibility of treatment for many diseases. He proposes to invest in research and to start clinical trials to document the therapeutic actual effects of the plant.
ITALY. 2017. Italian Chamber of Deputies. Rome
Member of Parliament Matteo Mantero, 5 Star Movement (M5S)
On October 3rd, the M5S presented a bill to the Senate for the domestic cultivation of cannabis for therapeutic uses.
This bill would extend the authorization to grow cannabis plants to private individuals. A single article that would have modified the law governing the use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The bill in question has not received a sufficient number of votes and Mr. Mantero defines it as a very serious shortcoming.
ITALY. 2017. Olbia-Tempio
“Dear Andrea, are 2 sachets of 35g. I am sorry I didn’t have more. Excuse the handwriting, but it’s because of my illness.
Don’t be discouraged. Have a good day.”
This letter was accompanied by a small quantity of cannabis as a gift to Andrea, an oncological patient. Andrea used marijuana regularly to counter the pain caused by his illness. He grew cannabis illegally in his home until the police has seized every plants. Andrea no longer had cannabis to continue his treatment against pain. Other patients have tried to help him.
ITALY. 2017 Palazzo Madama, Sala Caduti di Nassirya. Rome
Andrea Trisciuoglio, a 39-year-old who suffers from multiple sclerosis from Foggia in southern Italy, said he has been using medical marijuana for the past 10 years to mitigate his symptoms. He spoke at the meeting, held in the Senate of the Republic on December 1, in support of the law decree on therapeutic cannabis – Law Decree S.2947 – waiting for approval in the Senate.
ITALY. 2017. Roma
Carlo is one of the founders of the association called “Canapa Caffe” in Rome. The association registered about 400 members in less than a year. Patients who use cannabis for therapeutic purposes have found in this coffee a place of aggregation and comfort, where they can use their drugs in a Therapy Room. A room dedicated to the intake of inflorescence by inhalation via electric vaporizer, for the exclusive use of people with a medical prescription.
ITALY. 2018. Florence
Military Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant.
To help increasing national production, the Italian Government has just allocated additional public funds (one billion seven hundred thousand euros) in the 2018 Financial Program. These funds will be used to boost the cannabis program of the Military Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant.
ITALY. 2017. Hospital of Palestrina. Rome
Zaira, suffering from multiple sclerosis for over ten years. She went to the emergency room for severe pain caused by the Sativex – cannabis based drug- introduced in her therapy to counteract some of the symptoms of her pathology, such as insomnia.
ITALY. 2017. Rome
Paolo, Yoga teacher, suffering from multiple sclerosis since 2009.
He takes medical cannabis as an adjuvant to traditional drug therapy. He takes cannabis for the relaxing effect. People with multiple sclerosis have the right to free drug delivery, but Paolo prefers to buy the drug at a pharmacy, under medical prescription, to avoid the waiting time -of around three months- necessary to obtain the drug for free.
ITALY. 2017. Sandro Pertini Hospital, Rome.
Teresa is head nurse at the Sandro Pertini hospital in Rome. Affected by fibromalgia. About a year ago, she was convinced by a family friend to take cannabis light as an adjuvant drug. “Before I couldn’t walk around the park with my husband, we can now make the longest route” said Teresa and she added that at the beginning the idea of taking cannabis, although without THC, created a psychological discomfort “you know it’s against the rules”.
ITALY. 2017. Cannigione, Olbia-Tempio.
Andrea is affected by familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), a rare genetic disorder. He uses cannabis as an integral part of his therapy. In 2013 he was arrested by the police for the illegal cultivation of cannabis plants. “I’m not afraid to be arrested, but I’m afraid that cannabis will be seized because I use it every day to mitigate the symptoms of my pathology” Andrea told me strongly “I often thought of denouncing the State for torture”.
ITALY. 2017. Rome
Germano suffers from typical regressive autism. Twelve years ago, Germano’s parents decided to treat him with cannabis in the form of drops. He soffered from a severe form of self-harm before initiating therapy with cannabis. According to his mother, Germano has had improvements in posture and shows greater serenity and that allows him not to have to take other drugs.
ITALY. 2017 Palazzo Madama. Republic Senate. Rome
Patients, associations, doctors and pharmacists are in the Senate of the Republic to request a national regulation on therapeutic cannabis.
ITALY. 2017. Olbia-Tempio
A. uses lamps inside a box for growing cannabis plants indoors. This equipment allows him to grow plants even during the winter season. He chose not to hide cannabis plants that grow illegally in his home, despite was arrested and the police have already seized three times his marijuana plants.
Affirms his right to treatment “hide me would be like an admission of guilt, the right to health is constitutionally guaranteed”.
ITALY. 2017. Rome
Daniele has invested in the production of cannabis light, without THC, for about a year.
The turnover has exceeded expectations and he speaks of “Canna Business”. The orders for plants, relaxation oils, liquids for electronic cigarettes or inflorescence come from all over Italy.
ITALY. 2017. Rome
Germano, 36 years old, with his parents. Germano suffers from typical regressive autism.
His parents have cultivated for years a couple of cannabis plants on their apartment’s balcony to treat the side effects of Germano’s disease. Domestic cultivation guaranteed the therapeutic continuity of Germano.
In 2017 they had a complaint and the seizure of the plants by the police. And since that t
ITALY. 2017. Saracinesco, RM.
Saracinesco is a small village of about 176 inhabitants, just outside Rome. The Mayor Marco Orsola, in collaboration with the Italian Society of Natural Medicine, is promoting the project of an integrated medicine center, where marijuana will be cultivated and made
