Italy's 'cannabis light' creates buzz even if the pot won't

It's been called the Italian "green gold rush." Mild, barely there marijuana dubbed "cannabis light" has put Italy on the international weed map, producing hundreds of stores that sell pot by the pouch and attention from investors banking the legalization of stronger stuff will follow.

The flourishing retail industry around cannabis light - weed so non-buzzy, it's essentially the decaf coffee of marijuana - surfaced as an unintended by-product of a law meant to restore Italy as a top producer of industrial hemp. Now, storefronts that peddle chemically ineffective hemp flowers in varieties such as "Chill Haus" and "Black Buddha" are getting blowback that some Italians fear will nip business in the bud.

Italy's highest court clouded the climate four weeks ago by ruling it was illegal to market hemp-derived products that weren't "in practice devoid" of the power to provide a perceptible high. Sporadic testing and customer reviews suggested cannabis light outlets sold weed that weak. The law-and-order interior minister nonetheless declared war on the shops with neon leaf logos last month, vowing to close them "street by street, shop by shop" nationwide.

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 photo cannabis light plants are displayed at a cannabis light store in Milan, Italy. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has been an outspoken opponent of the marijuana light businesses that sprouted up around the country after pioneering 2016 legislation that many saw as a step toward eventual marijuana liberalization. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

"It is neither possible nor acceptable that in Italy there are 1,000 shops where there are drugs legally, in broad daylight. This is disgusting," Matteo Salvini, who made keeping migrants out of Italy his primary focus after taking office a year ago, said.

Some business owners are ready to fight back. The owner of Green Planet in the southern city of Caserta chained himself to the fence around his locked shop this month after a raid in which police seized 16 grams of cannabis light. Gioel Magini, the owner of a Cannabis Amsterdam Store franchise in Sanremo, proposed a class-action lawsuit to keep the shops open and their owners from losing money.

"I closed a pizzeria to open this store. Now, they want us to go bankrupt," Magini told Italian news agency ANSA. "It's as if to fight alcoholism, the sale of non-alcoholic beer is banned."

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 photo, a shop assistant holds a Kokedama moss ball cannabis light plant at a cannabis light store in Milan, Italy. It’s been called Italy’s ‘’Green Gold Rush,’’ a flourishing business around light marijuana that has created 15,000 jobs and an estimated 150 million euros worth of annual revenues in under three years. But the budding sector is facing a political and judicial buzzkill. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

The commotion reflects the lag in Europe's pro-marijuana movement compared to the recreational use frontiers of North America. The coffee shops in Amsterdam where tourists have gone since the late 1970s to purchase pot in public never took off outside the Netherlands. While more than 30 European countries have laws allowing medical marijuana in some form, patient advocates complain of high prices and inadequate supplies.

Enter "la cannabis light," the catchy name Italians have for cannabis sativa plant derivatives with low levels of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana that causes a high. Hemp and marijuana are the same plant, but scientists classify dry plants with no more than 0.3% THC as hemp. In the 28-country European Union, of which Italy is a member, the cutoff is 0.2%. A December 2016 Italian law, however, set a domestic ceiling three times higher than that to give hemp farmers leeway for natural variations resulting from cultivation, according to Stefano Masini, a spokesman for Italy's Coldiretti agriculture lobby.

Although 0.6% is just over the THC concentration required for hemp to become marijuana in a botanist's book, Italian regulators assumed it was too low to have a mind-altering effect and its related consumer appeal. Entrepreneurs in a country with a lackluster economy nonetheless saw an opportunity.

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 a shop assistant opens jars of cannabis buds at a cannabis light store in Milan, Italy. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has been an outspoken opponent of the marijuana light businesses that sprouted up around the country after pioneering 2016 legislation that many saw as a step toward eventual marijuana liberalization.(AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

The hemp law that took effect 2 ½ years ago permitted sales of cosmetics and products made with hemp. Gift boutiques, corner markets and stand-alone grow shops soon stocked cannabis-infused pasta, olive oil and gelato, but also jars and bags of "light" buds. Since marijuana still was illegal, producers labeled the products as "collector's items" not intended for consumption.

Rolling papers and glass pipes storekeepers might display nearby advertised otherwise.

"To say it is for collectors doesn't mean a thing," Coldiretti's Masini said. "If you can sell something that can be eaten or inhaled, obviously the use is something different."

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 photo, cannabis buds and products are displayed at a cannabis light store in Milan, Italy. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has been an outspoken opponent of the marijuana light businesses that sprouted up around the country after pioneering 2016 legislation that many saw as a step toward eventual marijuana liberalization. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

Even so, cannabis light is a far cry from the legal weed with THC levels of 5% to 35% that adults can buy for recreational use at licensed dispensaries in some parts of the U.S. A Seattle blogger accustomed to the high-octane marijuana in Washington state called Italy's cannabis light "faux weed" after sucking on a fat joint in Rome and feeling nothing. Other reviewers have described a slight relaxing effect.

THC content - or more precisely, how much it takes to get stoned - was considered by Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation in the May 30 decision that alarmed the cannabis light industry. The case involved two light cannabis shops in central Italy that police shut down on suspicion of drug trafficking. An investigating judge threw out charges against the owner. Similar cases had resulted in conflicting verdicts on whether the shops could operate legally.

The Supreme Court's preliminary ruling summed up the contradictions of cannabis light in half a page. The court said the 2016 hemp law and its upper THC limit did not apply to cannabis leaves, buds or other spin-offs from hemp plants. Selling them remained illegal in Italy "unless such products are in practice devoid of a doping effect."

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 cannabis buds under a glass bell are displayed at a cannabis light store in Milan, Italy. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has been an outspoken opponent of the marijuana light businesses that sprouted up around the country after pioneering 2016 legislation that many saw as a step toward eventual marijuana liberalization.(AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

The next day, police performed a "precautionary seizure" of Green Planet and two other stores in Caserta to test if the cannabis light they were selling was a legal non-high or carried illegal high-giving capacity. Local magistrates let Green Planet reopen after two weeks, which included the several its owner spent outside chained to the gated door in protest. Results must come back from THC tests on his confiscated products before he can sell cannabis light again.

Police raids in other cities have cannabis producers and sellers worried. They are anxiously waiting to see if the Supreme Court's full opinion, due by July 30, clarifies if they have a green light to keep mining the gold rush until the novelty of cannabis light wears off or more liberal laws clear the way for heavier marijuana on store shelves.

In other parts of Europe, changing attitudes on marijuana planted across the Atlantic might find fertile ground.. The government that took over in Luxembourg in November was the first in Europe to legalize recreational marijuana. Switzerland, which is not an EU member, allows cannabis light with up to 1% THC to be sold like tobacco. In Spain, cannabis social clubs are sprouting up since drug laws prohibiting marijuana possession are rarely enforced against casual users.

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 open jars of cannabis buds are displayed at a cannabis light store in Milan, Italy. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has been an outspoken opponent of the marijuana light businesses that sprouted up around the country after pioneering 2016 legislation that many saw as a step toward eventual marijuana liberalization.(AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

Legislative attempts to take the light out of Italian cannabis so far have stalled on strong objections from the right. One of the two populist parties running the government now - the 5-Star Movement - enraged its coalition partner - the League party led by cannabis light critic Salvini - with such an attempt last year. Claudio Miglio, a lawyer who specializes in drug-related cases, is optimistic the cannabis light market will be allowed to keep growing in the meantime.

"The hope is that the market, which is the strongest power of all, will finally stimulate the public opinion on marijuana as it's happening for light cannabis now," Miglio said.

Lisa Leff contributed from London.

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 photo, a shop assistant, left, shows products to a customer at a cannabis light store in Milan, Italy. It’s been called Italy’s ‘’Green Gold Rush,’’ a flourishing business around light marijuana that has created 15,000 jobs and an estimated 150 million euros worth of annual revenues in under three years. But the budding sector is facing a political and judicial buzzkill. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 photo shows a cannabis light store in Rome. It’s been called Italy’s ‘’Green Gold Rush,’’ a flourishing business around light marijuana that has created 15,000 jobs and an estimated 150 million euros worth of annual revenues in under three years. But the budding sector is facing a political and judicial buzzkill. (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 photo a man walks by the entrance of a cannabis light store, in which writing reads "Legal" on the shop window, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, June 6, 2019. It’s been called Italy’s ‘’Green Gold Rush,’’ a flourishing business around light marijuana that has created 15,000 jobs and an estimated 150 million euros worth of annual revenues in under three years. But the budding sector is facing a political and judicial buzzkill. (AP PhotoLuca Bruno)

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 photo, biscuits and other products are displayed at a Cannabis light store, in Rome. It’s been called Italy’s ‘’Green Gold Rush,’’ a flourishing business around light marijuana that has created 15,000 jobs and an estimated 150 million euros worth of annual revenues in under three years. But the budding sector is facing a political and judicial buzzkill. (AP PhotoAndrew Medichini)

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that she will start to “provisionally implement” a massive trade deal with the Mercosur bloc of nations in South America despite not having approval from European Parliament.

The trans-Atlantic trade deal is expected to create one of the world’s largest free trade zones covering more than 700 million people. Trade between the two tops 110 billion euro ($129 billion) and accounts for a quarter of global gross domestic product.

However, the deal has faced heavy criticism from Europe’s agriculture sector and environmentalists — and will likely tough resistance by elected representatives in the European Parliament.

For now, von der Leyen's move means she is basically sidestepping those lawmakers.

“When they are ready, we are ready,” von der Leyen said, referring to the EU lawmakers without whose approval the agreement cannot be concluded. With backing from Europe leaders, she said the Commission will “provisionally implement the agreement” after Uruguay and Argentina ratified the EU-Mercosur trade deal on Thursday.

French President Emmanuel Macron slammed the move in remarks to reporters in Paris.

″For France, it’s a surprise. A bad surprise," he said. "And for the European Parliament, it’s bad manners.″

Macron said he would work to make sure hard-won protections for farmers and health would be respected in the roll-out.

″We will be uncompromising on the respect for these rules," he said, including heightened surveillance of sensitive sectors, safeguard clauses, mirror clauses notably for pesticides, and tightened sanitary rules in third countries.

″I will never defend a deal that is lax on what we import and tough on what we produce at home, because that is inconsistent toward European consumers, and it is criminal for European sovereignty," Macron said.

The deal comes in the wake of global trade shocks from the tariffs imposed by the United States and the throttling of critical mineral supplies from China that pushed the 27-nation EU to forge a raft of free trade deals across the world.

Both Spain and Germany, backers of the trade deal, praised Leyen's move.

German's foreign minister Johann Wadephul said in a social media post that with Mercosur deal's implementation, “companies & people from both continents can finally benefit from more prosperity & growth. Germany will work tirelessly to help tap the full potential of this historic agreement.”

Carlos Cuerpo, Spain’s economy minister, said that “in an increasingly uncertain world, Europe cannot afford to fall behind. The Mercosur agreement is a major step in European Union’s roadmap to become more independent and resilient.”

Along with Macron's remarks, other critics were also swift to condemn von der Leyen's move.

“Applying the trade deal now, without the Court’s opinion and without MEPs’ consent, would trample over the democratic processes," said an open letter signed by 171 environmental, labor and agricultural groups in Europe and South America which called von der Leyen's provisional implementation a “democratic scandal.”

“At a time when many in our society feel sidelined and are losing faith in political processes, opting for provisional application would be profoundly anti-democratic and would risk inflaming tensions within EU countries as well as between them.”

Von der Leyen is likely to shrug off such criticism as she has in the past to advance a deal she describes as vital for the EU's survival in a newly disordered world.

“This is about resilience, this is about growth, and Europe shaping its own future," von der Leyen said at a news conference. No questions were allowed.

“Our businesses, our workers, and our citizens will reap the benefits, and they should reap them as soon as possible," she added. “Mercosur embodies the spirit in which Europe is acting on the global scene."

She also acknowledged that the “agreement can only be fully concluded once the European Parliament has given its consent” and said the commission would “continue closely with all EU institutions, member states, and stakeholders to ensure a smooth and transparent process.”

European lawmakers voted in January to challenge the deal at the European Court of Justice, which could delay it for years or even derail it.

Even without any obstacles from that court or the parliament, the deal could still take months for the deal to go into effect.

Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin, and Suman Naishadham in Madrid contributed to this report.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen prepares to address the audience during a high level event on the Eastern Border Regions Strategy at EU headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)