From Entrepreneurs to Narcos Thanks to the Security Decree: The Incredible Story of Emiliano and Simona

“I had to call my daughter’s teachers and explain that I was under arrest, I was so ashamed and it’s not right ”. Simona Giorgi is not a dangerous drug dealer, but one of the 22,000 people working in the industrial hemp sector in Italy (her shop is the leader of a small chain) who saw her job eliminated by the security decree approved by the government. And who now finds herself thrown out on the street with no certainty for the future and with many risks.

The new law establishes that CBD inflorescences (a cannabis molecule with no narcotic effects) are prohibited as if they were drugs . Consequently, anyone who sells them will be reported for article 73: drug dealing. Article 18 of the decree clarifies this: " the importation, transfer, processing, distribution, trade, transportation, dispatch, shipping and delivery of hemp inflorescences " are prohibited. And so, in the space of a few days, products that until yesterday were legal and controlled have become illegal. And those who were previously entrepreneurs have magically transformed into criminals and risk 6 to 20 years in prison, despite paying taxes and having an ATECO code.

The same fate befell Emiliano del Ferrero , 24 years old and father of a 2-year-old girl, whose light cannabis shop in Colleferro (Rome) was the first target of the security decree. “On Friday 30 May I went to open the shop like every day – Emiliano said – and as soon as I raised the shutter I heard footsteps behind me, they were 5 Guardia di Finanza officers” . The result of the “raid”: over 10 kg of material seized from the two young entrepreneurs by the police. The association Meglio Legale is now reaching out to Simona and Emiliano, which through its lawyer Paola Bevere has filed a request for review with the Court of Rome, raising the question of the constitutional legitimacy of art. 18 of the security decree, highlighting in particular the non-existence of the alleged crime, because – as was said – the seized substance has no drug effect. And politics has also taken action in the person of the secretary of +Europa Riccardo Magi who, together with Antonella Soldo , president of Meglio Legale and member of the general council of the Luca Coscioni Association, yesterday organised a press conference in front of Montecitorio to give a voice to those left without a job and to announce new initiatives against the executive decree, starting with an appeal to the Constitutional Court.

With Magi and Soldo in front of the Chamber there were also Simona and Emiliano, the first "targets" of the decree, who reiterated a simple concept: " We just want to work ". But the government's text is clear, even if Magi immediately points out a problem: the new law goes against European legislation and risks being "in conflict with the principle of free movement of goods" . A point, or rather a paradox, also highlighted by Soldo: "From France I can freely purchase CBD". But there is a further short circuit that triggers the indignation of entrepreneurs, well summarized in one of the signs raised in front of the Chamber: "7 billion to the mafias of the black market of cannabis, but the state is ruining 22 thousand jobs in the cannabis market". In short: in addition to the damage, there is also a lot of mockery, especially if you consider that the industrial hemp supply chain - which in Italy has over 3000 companies - brings in 500 million euros a year, of which 150 are paid to the State in the form of taxes.

FROM

Asia Buconi