The Italian Health Minister Livia Turco has officially ordered that the import of medicines containing THC can still be authorized by the Central Narcotics Commission of the Ministry, for patients who need these medicines and have no alternatives available. The Minister's ordinance is valid until 30 November 2006.

The previous government's drug law, currently in effect, states that cannabis has no accepted medical uses, and all cannabinoids were excluded from Table II, the official list of all the narcotic and psychotropic substances accepted for medical use. Following an appeal signed by over 100 health care professionals and researchers, in the interest of patients who depended on the regular import of cannabis medicines like nabilone, dronabinol, Sativex and Bedrocan from abroad, the new government's Health Minister responded with this ordinance, while waiting for a decision by the Superior Health Council whether to include cannabinoids in Table II again.

The complete text of the ordinance (in Italian) is available at http://medicalcannabis.it.

(Source: Personal communication with IACM by the Associazione per la Cannabis Therapeutica)