Recent ruling said 2016 law was meant mostly for hemp growers, not retail spinoffs.

It’s been called the Italian “green gold rush.” Mild, barely there marijuana dubbed “cannabis light” has put Italy on the international weed map, producing hundreds of stores that sell pot by the pouch and attention from investors banking the legalization of stronger stuff will follow.

The flourishing retail industry around cannabis light — weed so non-buzzy, it’s essentially the decaf coffee of marijuana — surfaced as an unintended byproduct of a law meant to restore Italy as a top producer of industrial hemp. Now, storefronts that peddle chemically ineffective hemp flowers in varieties such as Chill Haus and Black Buddha are getting blowback that some Italians fear will nip business in the bud.

– Read the entire article at CBC News.