Light Cannabis and CBD: The Law and the Ruling Confirming Its Legality
On September 8, 2025, the Court of Trento ruled on a case that garnered attention from the entire light hemp sector. The case arose from the seizure of some inflorescences sold by a local merchant, who was accused of violating Article 18 of the 2025 Security Decree, which introduced a general ban on the sale of light cannabis products.
However, the Trentino judges adopted a different approach, referencing principles already established by previous jurisprudence. The ruling states that, for a drug-related offense to be configured, the substance must have "a narcotic effect capable of threatening public health."
Industrial hemp with THC values below 0.5% – like that seized – does not possess these characteristics and therefore cannot be treated as a narcotic substance.
The decision follows a well-trodden path. As early as 2019, the Joint Sections of the Court of Cassation (sentence no. 30475) had clarified that the sale of industrial hemp derivatives is permissible when the products do not have a narcotic effect.
It is important to remember that the regulatory framework remains that of Law 242 of 2016, which allows the cultivation of hemp from certified EU seeds, and that European law protects the free movement of these agricultural products. The Court of Trento, therefore, did not create a new rule, but rather reiterated that criminal law cannot be applied where there is no real harmfulness.
For merchants and consumers, the ruling represents a significant signal: the judges reaffirmed that a formal prohibition is not enough to qualify something as illegal if it does not have narcotic effects.
As they observed in the grounds for the decision, what matters is the concrete ability of the substance to produce a narcotic effect, which is absent in regularly certified light hemp products.
All PURE CBD products are analyzed by accredited laboratories, which certify a THC content of less than 0.5%. This technical data, repeatedly cited in judicial proceedings, is central to distinguishing industrial hemp from genuinely narcotic products.
