An Italian court on Wednesday annulled a recent government decree doubling the amount of cannabis a person can carry without being arrested for dealing.
The regional administrative appeals court TAR abolished norms lifting the legal amount of cannabis for personal use from 500 milligrams to 1 gram - the equivalent of 40 joints.
The court had already moved against the November decree, suspending its application in a ruling last week in favour of a consumer rights' group and a drug rehabilitation centre which had filed suit against the laxer norms.
The TAR said in its latest ruling that the government had "not explained the reasons for nor adequately justified its decision" given the existence of "detailed research on the damaging effects of the substance in question".
The court, which is often called on in legal tangles involving private citizens or companies and the state, said that cannabis "seriously impaired psychomotor function" and hence doubling the legal amount was not advisable.
Health Minister Livia Turco did not comment on the sentence. She has already said she will appeal to the Council of State, Italy's top administrative court, to get the TAR's previous ruling overturned.
Welfare Minister Paolo Ferrero said the government would appeal against the new ruling as well.
Ferrero stressed that the purpose of the decree was to "prevent the risk of people being jailed as dealers when they simply smoke the occasional joint".
He said the centre-left government was also working on an overhaul of tough anti-drug legislation passed by the centre right when it was in power.
He said the draft bill could be ready in April.
The centre right, meanwhile, praised the TAR and said the Turco decree had encouraged cannabis use.
"Cannabis is anything but a soft drug," the rightist National Alliance said, arguing that it was a "gateway" drug for youngsters in particular.
Some opposition lawmakers called for Turco's resignation.
2006 DRUG LAW TOO TOUGH, CRITICS SAY.
The Turco decree was regarded as the first step in a more radical revision of the drug law passed by the previous government of Silvio Berlusconi in February 2006.
The law enshrined a "zero tolerance" approach to all types of drug, making possession of hard and soft ones a potentially criminal offence with jail terms ranging from six to 20 years for suppliers.
Apart from the 500mg for cannabis, the thresholds set for personal drug possession were: 750mg for cocaine (or some 5 doses), 250mg for heroin (some 10 shots), 750mg for ecstasy (five tablets), 500mg for amphetamines and 150mg for LSD.
People caught with more than these quantities automatically face criminal proceedings for dealing unless they can prove that personal use only is intended.
The Berlusconi coalition said the law marked the end of tolerance towards cannabis users and affirmed the principle that all drugs are bad. They denied protests that 'recreational' drug users would be penalised.
But critics, particularly on the centre left, said the possession thresholds were far too low and could result in thousands of soft drug users being sent to prison.
They noted that very few European countries define specific quantities as thresholds for criminal proceedings and argued that even in the states that do, the amounts are consistently higher.
When she presented her November decree, Turco said that arrests for marijuana possession soared 64% in May-October 2006 under the new law compared to the same period in 2005.
According to recent statistics, 33% of Italian teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 have smoked pot at least once, while 10-12% have tried cocaine, 11% ecstasy and 7-10% crack.
Almost 10% of adult Italians are reported to use pot on a regular basis and there are an estimated 300,000-320,000 heroin addicts.
A cult TV show caused uproar recently by exposing allegedly widespread drug use in parliament itself.
The show Le Iene secretly tested 50 MPs last October for drugs, revealing that one in three had apparently taken them in the preceding 36 hours. Twelve tested positive for cannabis and four for cocaine, Le Iene said.
COCAINE ALARM.
Interior Minister Giulio Amato sounded the alarm last month over a rise in cocaine use in particular, saying that "the demand for the drug is frightening... it's gigantic".
Cocaine consumption is believed to be higher in only two other European countries - Britain and Spain.
Experts stressed that the drug was no longer restricted to a wealthy elite.
With average prices ranging from 50-100 euros per gram but falling as low as 30 on the streets of some cities, they said students, secretaries, truck drivers and construction workers were among the new, habitual users.
