In Italy, laws around the sale and use of cannabis remain in flux. But it’s still possible in many locations to buy what is known as “cannabis light,” a low-dose THC product. A new study shows Italians are buying it up like de-caf espresso, using the cannabis light to replace pharmaceuticals.
The study, published in The Journal of Health Economics, found that legalization of cannabis light in 2017 led Italians to buy it in increasing numbers, while at the same time sales for anti-anxiety medications and sedatives dropped. The product is comparable to CBD products in the United States that have exploded in popularity since the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp. “The large-scale accessibility to the new product, which was advertised as a relaxant one, induced some patients to abandon traditional medicine to seek relief,” researchers wrote in the study. In 2016, a loophole in an Italian law legalizing hemp allowed entrepreneurs in the country to sell low-dose THC products in shops. The products could contain no more than 0.6 percent THC.
Cannabis light first became widely available in Italy in 2017.
