In a reversal of past precedence, Italy’s highest court ruled that citizens were legally entitled to grow marijuana on their home balconies.
The court’s decision came in light of a case against a 23-year-old charged with growing the plant on his home terrace in Scalea in Calabria. The cannabis, which was growing in a small vase, would only have been capable of producing 16 mg of THC, the marijuana drug.
In the past, being caught with even small amounts of cultivated narcotics came with a hefty punishment.
The court has now ruled that such miniscule amounts could “cause no harm” and citizens are therefore permitted to grow cannabis on their balconies, so long as the plants are not allowed to grow large enough to harvest the drug.
