The Italian government has decided that in the future cannabis may be used for the treatment of pain. The parliament has still to hold a vote on this issue. The meassure has "nothing to do with joints" Health Minister Livia Turco stated. The reform can only become into effect after the House of Representatives and the Senate have approved it. The opposition is devided on this question. While the right-wing nationalists accused the government to legalize a soft drug, Chiara Moroni of the party "Forza Italia" of opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi supported the decision of the cabinet.

The lawmaker in Switzerland also made a first step to the possibility of a legal use of cannabis products for medical purposes. The Health Committee of the parliament (Nationalrat) has decided with clear majority to suggest to the parliament to change the narcotics law accordingly, said the physician Felix Gutzwiller, president of the parliamentary party FDP and member of the Health Committee, on 24 October in the news of the Swiss television. He therefore assumes that "there will be also a majority in the Nationalrat for the legalization of cannabis as a medicine." More at: http://tagesschau.sf.tv/nachrichten/archiv/2006/10/24/schweiz/58113 http://www.netzeitung.de/wissenschaft/447655.html

(Sources: Swiss television of 24 October 2006, Netzzeitung of 20 October 2006)