Is Legalization Coming to Naples, Home of Mafia-Controlled Cannabis?

Cannabis activists gathered in the Southern Italian town of Salerno, near Naples, earlier this month to form a new federation in favor of regulating cannabis in Italy. There are even hopeful signs the effort will find traction — Parliament is scheduled to have a debate on the subject on June 27.

The passing of a joint, besides still being illegal in Italy, can be especially dangerous in Naples. The local Mafia, the “system,” does not tolerate third parties selling or distributing cannabis outside its monopoly. It’s a fact often denounced by the powerful DIA, the District Anti-Mafia Direction, which last year proclaimed the utter failure of prohibition and urged the government to start regulating cannabis. 

Local media also perpetuate the widespread urban legend of dealers mixing cannabis with battery acid or other poisonous substances. The result, the so-called Mafia-manipulated amnesia, is one of the many worn-out myths that send a...

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