Italian bishops’ daily seeks scrutiny of ‘medical marijuana’ drive

CWN – May 02, 2012

The Italian daily Avvenire, owned by the Italian bishops’ conference, has called critical attention to a bid to legalize the medical use of marijuana.

A regional council in Tuscany approved a “medical marijuana” billl on May 2, becoming the first Italian legislative body to take that step. Other regional councils are expected to take action on similar initiatives in coming weeks, leading up to a drive for “medical marijuana” authorization on the national level.

The report in Avvenire echoed the arguments put forward by an Italian lay group, the Centro Culturale Lepanto, in a document which had appeared as a paid ad in the same newspaper on April 19. That report in turn pointed to the finding of the Food and Drugs Administation that “no serious scientific study” endorses the medical use of marijuana / cannabis, that “smoking marijuana has no established or proved medical benefit”, that smoking it “is harmful to health” and that it is not recognized as medical treatment. Moreover, the document said, no medicine can be marketed legally in Italy without the prior approval medical boards which have never authorized the use of marijuana.