Italian lawmaker claims he planted marijuana in Parliament

ROME: An Italian lawmaker who caused uproar in parliament when he claimed his marijuana plants were sprouting in the chamber's flower beds, has said the government must legalise the drug he argues is no worse than alcohol.  

“There they are -- can't you see them growing?” Francesco Caruso joked, pointing to the flower pots in the courtyard of Montecitorio palace, the parliament where he shocked fellow deputies last week by saying he had planted the illegal crop.   

Before being elected on a Communist Party ticket at last April's general election, the 32-year-old was well known as a radical anti-globalisation activist who often clashed with police in street protests.   

He intends to use his establishment post to push for changes in the drugs laws -- an emotive issue in Italy that threatens to split Prime Minister Romano Prodi's centre-left coalition.   

Caruso says his claim to have planted drugs in parliament was untrue.

“It was a political provocation rather than a joke. I was opening a debate in Italy on the necessity of legalising soft drugs,” he said.   

The claim, which caused the parliament to be suspended for 10 minutes because of the uproar, was made on the same day that Health Minister Livia Turco doubled the amount of cannabis a person can possess before facing criminal charges.   

Caruso welcomed the easing of the law, but said it still left cannabis users with the threat of arrest and disputed Turco's claim that the new limit of one gram of ‘active ingredient’ would be enough for up to 40 joints.  

“I don't know where Minister Turco buys her dope, but around my way, weed grows well and it's not true that 1,000 milligrams (of active ingredient) are 40 joints -- it's two or three.”

“If you have the misfortune to buy good quality, you risk six years of prison,” he said.       

Nearly a third of Italians have tried cannabis, according to a survey quoted by the government, and more than 10 percent have smoked it over the last year. A satirical TV show which tricked 50 parliamentarians into taking a drugs test last month, found 12 had taken cannabis and four cocaine in the previous 36 hours.   

Turco, a member of the biggest government party, the Democrats of the Left, has promised an overhaul of the so-called Fini-Giovanardi law, named after two ministers in Berlusconi's government, which clamped down on soft drugs.   

She was instantly attacked by her own allies in parliament. Fifty-one centre-left lawmakers, mostly from the second biggest government party, the centrist Margherita, wrote a letter criticising her easing of the rules.  

“Drugs are a type of aggression against life, and there's a part of this government that's not going to make concessions on these values,” said one of the signatories, Sen. Paola Binetti.   

While Italy's centre right is united in its opposition to drugs liberalisation, divisions over the issue in Prodi's coalition threaten his dream of uniting the two main parties to create a large centre-left election war machine.   

If Caruso can persuade doubters in his coalition, he is aware that a future centre-right government is likely to swing the drugs laws away from liberalisation.   

“Its a cultural battle,” he said. “Only when there's a widespread recognition of the similarity between cannabis, alcohol and nicotine, then it will be difficult for any government to turn back -- right or left.”