Istalia

[XanderOne]

Green light for the industrial hemp law, but the cannabis front opens

Approved by Congress with broad support, the majority splits on the recreational use, and an unprecedented alliance is formed between the Greens and D&L for legalization.

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July 5667 (OCC: backdated)

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ROMULA - The Congress has definitively approved the law regulating the cultivation and production of industrial hemp, supported by the governing majority and the external vote of a large number of parliamentarians from Democracy & Freedom and a significant representation of the National Liberal Party. The measure, long-awaited by the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, aims to regulate a sector with significant economic benefits in terms of textile supply chains, green building, and the sustainable production of innovative materials.

The law, however, limited its scope exclusively to industrial hemp, excluding any reference to the recreational use of cannabis. On this point, the Party of New Communists maintained a clear line, successfully blocking any mediation attempts made by the rest of the majority. The Greens, the main promoters of the broader proposal, have therefore accepted the compromise, although they achieved to make accept to the New Communists the creation of a "National Center for Research on Cannabis Therapeutic Use", which will have to produce data and carry out experimental crops to define a possible national policy on the matter.
On the side of the recreational use, however, the Greens declared that this political battle "is not over".

In an unexpected turn of events, the Greens have found common ground with D&L, creating an advocacy group to launch a common campaign for cannabis legalization. This front, which unites very different political minds, is gaining support not only from civil society but also from certain business circles, attracted by the market prospects of a sector that, during the First Empire, had already enjoyed success, such as the historic company "Ananda".

The issue thus promises to become one of the next points of contention in Istalian political life, which could become a infra-majority matter of confrontation at the next elections.