Are there limits and rules for narcotic substances that can be possessed for personal use?
In Italy as in the rest of the world there are illicit substances, we believe that there is a profound diversity between types of illicit substances and that they should have dedicated rules according to their nature.
Having said this, below we provide a table and related description and standard which refers to the maximum limits established for certain substances which should be implemented to establish, on the merits, whether the owner can be a user.
Maximum limits of narcotic substances provided for by Art. 73 paragraph 1-bis of the Consolidated Law approved with Presidential Decree 309/1990, as amended by Law no. 21 February 2006. 49
Summary table for the main narcotic substances
| DMS in mg of Active principle |
Multiplier Variable |
QMD In mg of Active principle |
Gross substance In gr. Or n. Of Tablets |
Number of doses Or hiring |
|
| Heroin | 25 | 10 | 250 | 1.7 (15%) | 10 hires |
| Cocaine | 150 | 5 | 750 | 1.6 (45%) | 5 hires |
| Cannabis THC (marijuana. Hashish) |
25 | 20 | 500 | 5 (10%) | 3-8pm |
| MDMA (ecstasy) | 150 | 5 | 750 | 5 tablets | 5 hires |
| Amphetamine | 100 | 5 | 500 | 5 tablets | 5 hires |
| LSD | 0.05 | 3 | 0.15 | 3 stamps | 3 hires |
| Legend | |||||
| DMS (Average Single Dose) QMD (Maximum Holdable Quantity) DMG (Average Daily Dose) | |||||
What is the “threshold” and what is it for?
With the decree of the Ministry of Health of 11 April 2006 (published in the Official Journal no. 95 of 24 April 2006), issued in agreement with the Ministry of Justice, steps were taken to determine the maximum quantitative limits relating to the narcotic substances included in the table I expected from
consolidated text approved with Presidential Decree 9 October 1990, n. 309, as amended by law 21 February 2006, n. 49 of conversion with amendments to the legislative decree of 30 December 2005 n. 272. Such goes, named brevity .D. (Maximum quantity that can be held), was obtained by multiplying the DMS (Dose
single average, i.e. the quantity of active ingredient per single intake suitable to produce a narcotic effect in a tolerant and dependent subject), identified by a commission of experts and toxicologists, for a 'variable multiplier' established by the political decision maker. The multiplication factor takes into account the characteristics and effects of each class of substances and, in particular, the degree of behavioral alteration, the decline in psycho-motor skills in the execution of complex tasks of human-machine interaction (work and driving) and of the intensity of the psycho-physical conditioning induced by the various narcotic substances. Exceeding the quantitative limit in question constitutes one of the interpretative tools provided by law to allow the judge to prove that the substances detained are not exclusively for personal use and not an absolute presumption of guilt. Above it, it can, in fact, be presumed, without prejudice to the possibility for the consumer to demonstrate that the greater quantity detained is intended for personal use, that the narcotic is intended for drug dealing; 1 below, provided that the purpose of drug dealing cannot be hypothesized through the evidence of suitable circumstantial evidence (e.g. equipment for packaging doses, large quantities of money, criminal records against him, etc.), the holder will be recognized as having the purpose of personal use. The holder/drug dealer will be punished with a criminal sanction (imprisonment, fine), while the holder/consumer will, however, be subjected to administrative sanctions (e.g. administrative detention of the moped, suspension of the driving licence, firearms license and passport , application, in cases of recidivism, of measures that have the aim of limiting as much as possible the social danger of those who have engaged in conduct that causes alarm in the community) and the invitation to undertake a therapeutic recovery process to get out of their addiction .
