News from Italy

There was a time when you could pass ridiculously harsh laws and nobody would do anything about it as long as it was for “drugs.”

That seems to be changing.

Italy court strikes down drug law blamed for prison crowding

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s constitutional court on Wednesday struck down a drug law that tripled sentences for selling, cultivating or possessing cannabis and which has been blamed for causing prison overcrowding.

The constitutional court said the law, which was passed in 2006 by Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative government, was “illegitimate”, without giving further details. Some estimates suggest 10,000 people may be released from jail as a result. […]

After the court’s ruling, the drug law previously in place will automatically take effect

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18 Responses to News from Italy

  1. strayan says:

    Senator Carlo Giovanardi, one of the original architects of the stricter law, said the ruling was a “devastating choice from a scientific viewpoint and in the message it sends to young people that some drugs are less dangerous than others”.

    Err, some drugs are less dangerous than others.

    Silly prohibidiot.

  2. thelbert says:

    devastating to italy or giovanardi’s ego? allowing fools to rule is a global affliction, seemingly.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      Indeed, the first rule of government should be that anyone who wants the job is disqualified and excluded.

  3. Servetus says:

    (The bad)

    “The so-called drug war as conceived in North America has been lost and it’s time to return to rational rules that distinguish between substances,” Franco Corleone, of the human rights group Society of Reason, told Reuters.

    Yes, the United States and Canada need a fall-guy. North America will get the blame for the drug war, unless someone blames it on the Vatican (hint, hint).

    ***

    (The good)

    A letter to President Obama, dated February 12, 2014, recommending the rescheduling of marijuana, has been signed and sent by 18 U.S. Congress-members:

    http://tinyurl.com/q2u44wa

  4. Jeff Trigg says:

    Jail for cannabis is a cruel and unusual punishment.

    Too bad none of the Democrat and Republican judges in this country believe that statement to be true.

  5. Servetus says:

    More marijuana action plans: Congressman Steve Cohen wants to rid the world of the Drug Czar’s License to Lie.

    • Nunavut Tripper says:

      Can’t help but admire Cohen.
      A politician who truly understands the ramifications of the drug war.

  6. allan says:

    gosh, it’s only mid-February. The truth smells like spring!

    Poor prohibs… 🙁 not!

  7. Russell Olausen says:

    Maybe the 10,000 getting out of jail can meet Berlosconi going into jail.

  8. DdC says:

    Senator Carlo Giovanardi, one of the original architects of the stricter law
    April 1945 2014, with total defeat looming, Mussolini Giovanardi and Berlusconi attempted to escape north, only to be quickly captured and summarily executed near Lake Como by Italian partisans. Then taken to Milan where they were hung upside down at a service station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of the demise.

    Italy Seeks To Bring in Tough Law on Drugs – 12/01/03
    People caught with modest amounts of cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs will be subject to penalties such as deprivation of their passports and driving licences. Those with larger amounts will face prison sentences of up to 20 years.

    The proposal goes further than anti-drugs legislation in other European Union countries by abolishing the distinction between so-called “soft” and “hard” drugs. It also virtually turns existing Italian law on its head by starting from the principle that it is drug use, rather than drug abuse, that must be stamped out.

    “In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty, He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.”
    ~ Thomas Jefferson, 1814

    Catholic Church on Cannabis
    Catholic Church Calls on World Governments to Reject Drug Legalization, But Says Repression Cannot Be Sole Response

    The Popes hate dope
    By Dana Larsen – Sunday, April 17 2005
    Since its foundation, the Catholic Church and its Pope have been the sworn enemy of global marijuana culture.

    The Pope Condemns Marijuana Legalization, But the People Have Smoken

    Archeology: Ancient Temple Hashish Incense! Did Jesus Inhale?

  9. DdC says:

    Russell Brand ‏@rustyrockets
    We have 48 hours to change drug laws and prevent more senseless death due to government lies. Please sign this http://www.avaaz.org/DrugLawsKill

    DrugWarFacts.org ‏@DrugPolicyFacts
    Enjoying the #Sochi #Olympics? Here are some facts about #Russia that won’t be covered http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/1245#sthash.a6Gy1R5v.dpbs … #DrugWar #HarmReduction

    Democracy Now! ‏@democracynow
    What country ranks #1 in #PressFreedom? Which are the most dangerous for journalists? Watch: http://owl.li/tyga9 pic.twitter.com/jNDwNkj43y

    Sensible Drug Policy ‏@SSDP
    US drug policy fuels push for legal pot worldwide http://shar.es/Q982Y via @wews

  10. claygooding says:

    Has anyone seen ads for more DEA agents,,they are going to have to increase the agency by at least 10 times the manpower and budget to fight more than 20 countries that will be producing huge crops of marijuana coming in from 20 legal countries that won’t let them spray and reduce their output,,there goes Medicare and Social Security but at least Congress didn’t raise the taxes on the rich.

  11. DdC says:

    Czar Jobs 1 urine taster

    Going Out of Business Sale

    This is part of our global contribution. The drug war has become the preferred foreign policy approach toward controlling much of the world. We export our drug war, our tactics, and, most of all, our DEA. ~dwr

    (Now with (207) offices in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Canada, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, Suriname, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos Islands, Haiti, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caldeonia, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, Western Samoa, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, Kiribati, Nauru, Philippines, Burma, South Korea, Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Laos, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Greece, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Bahrain, Chad, Dijibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Oman, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Russia, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, Germany, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Western Sahara, Channel Islands, Ireland, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Azores, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Gibraltar, Portugal, Principality of Andorra, Spain, Spanish Enclaves (Ceuta & Melilla), Algeria, France, Monaco, Morocco, Tunisia, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Belarus, Hungary, Moldova, Slovak Republic, Ukraine.)

    Exporting DEAmocracy
    Freak Trade * Free Raids

  12. pfroehlich2004 says:

    We need proof! If any uncertainty exists, it must be banned:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/opinion/we-need-proof-on-marijuana.html?src=rechp&_r=0

  13. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .

    Isn’t the word “illegitimate” synonymous with the phrase “bastard progeny” or progenie bastarda in Italian? I like the latter better. Of course I’m known to enjoy hyperbolization. Especially the ones which in particular satisfy the Thurston conjecture of course.

    One form of Thurston’s geometrization theorem states: “If M is an compact irreducible atoroidal Haken manifold whose boundary has zero Euler characteristic, then the interior of M has a complete hyperbolic structure of finite volume.” I haven’t got a clue what any of that means but it sounds really, really smart!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolization_theorem

    • claygooding says:

      geez,,tone it down,,I can’t look that many words up,,,here,,hit his Hookah and cross your eyes and read that.

  14. “The Popes hate dope”

    Must have been a surprise to the creator of Vin Mariani:

    Vin Mariani (French: Mariani’s wine) was a tonic and patent medicine created circa 1863 by Angelo Mariani, a French chemist who became intrigued with coca and its economic potential after reading Paolo Mantegazza’s paper on coca’s effects. In 1863,[1][2] Mariani started marketing a wine called Vin Tonique Mariani (à la Coca du Pérou)[1] which was made from Bordeaux wine treated with coca leaves.[3]

    The ethanol in the wine acted as a solvent and extracted the cocaine from the coca leaves, altering the drink’s effect. It originally contained 6 mg of cocaine per fluid ounce of wine, but Vin Mariani that was to be exported contained 7.2 mg per ounce, in order to compete with the higher cocaine content of similar drinks in the United States. Advertisements for Vin Mariani claimed that it would restore health, strength, energy, and vitality.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Mariani

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