There is talk of cannabis again after President Giorgia Meloni’s speech in the Chamber of Deputies on 26 June on the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. ‘There are no soft drugs. All drugs are bad for you,’ said the premier shortly before +Europa senator Riccardo Magi held up a sign that read: ‘Cannabis, if the State doesn’t take care of it, the mafias will.
Two opposing visions on a subject that, due to its divisive nature, cyclically returns to the fore – the last time was last year with the presentation of the referendum (later judged inadmissible) by the Better Legal Association. IZI decided to carry out a survey to understand, data in hand, how divided our country actually is on the legalisation of marijuana.
We found that, net of those who do not express an opinion, more than half of Italians – 52% – are in favour: we are talking about more than 26 million citizens of age. However, the number is down compared to the survey we carried out only last year, when the yes to legalisation reached almost 60% of respondents.
The reasons that convince people to vote in favour include, first on the list, the reduction of the soft drug market in the hands of the mafias, followed by a greater safety certification of the substances that would be consumed and the possibility of being able to treat cannabis as is the case today with tobacco and alcohol, thus exposing the possible risks with appropriate labels. Those who are against, on the other hand, do so because they believe that with legalisation, consumption among young people will also increase, that cannabis is the first step towards taking harder drugs and, finally, that the difference between soft and hard drugs does not exist.
Supporters of legal cannabis are to be found more in the south of Italy and the islands and vote for left and centre-left parties such as the Democratic Party and the 5 Star Movement, for which 54% and 59% are positive respectively. The unfavourable ones concentrate their votes among the right-wing and centre-right parties: it is the leghists who are the most opposed with a percentage close to 70% – the percentage was 46% last year-, followed by the voters of Fratelli d’Italia with 65%. Forza Italia, bucking the trend of the parties in its coalition, recorded 35% against and 39% in favour.
However, the real discriminator turns out to be age: 18-34 year olds say yes to legalisation at 63% – against only 20% against -, a percentage that drops dramatically going to the 34-54 bracket, which registers 46% yes and, above all, to the over 55 bracket with 52% against and 33% in favour. Only last year the latter bracket recorded 40% yes against ‘only’ 43% no.
The research was also published in Huffington Post Italy.