Italian Authorities Adopt Neo-Fascist Laws Against Drug Users

All four of Italy's main political parties have backed a proposal to introduce ultra-harsh penalties for possession of tiny amounts of all drugs, which the Financial Times said this week will mean Italy soon has 'Europe's most severe anti-drug laws.'

The new laws will make possession of more than a couple of cannabis joints (250mg) or 3 or 4 ecstasy pills (300mg) punishable with a six year prison sentence while people caught with less will have their passports and driving licences removed. Foreigners (including EU citizens) caught with small amounts will be deported.

The 'US style approach' was drawn up by far right politician Gianfranco Fini, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and 'leader of Italy's former neo-fascists' (The Guardian) and was backed by Italian PM/ corporate billionaire Silvio Berlusconi.

"Taking drugs is not an innocuous exercise of freedoms that can't be curbed," Fini declared.

"But a rejection of the most elementary duties of the individual towards the various communities in which he or she actually lives."

The autocratic politician transformed the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement into the less extreme National Alliance political party in the 80s, though became infamous in 1994, when he called Italy's 2nd World War dictator Mussolini 'the greatest statesman of the century' in an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa (though he later retracted his statement.)

Click here for Gianfranco Fini eschews his fascist salutes story.
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