Bar serves cannabis instead of coffee
A bar owner in the north-western Italian region of Piedmont has been arrested, after police found he was serving cannabis rather than coffee to students.
Salvatore Nocera, 58, was arrested in the city of Acqui Terme after police surveillance showed him serving doses of hashish to children from the local high school.
With a prime location close to the city’s bus stop and train station, Nocera’s bar was a regular hangout for children on their way to school. The students would allegedly stop off to pick up cannabis en route to their lessons, Il Secolo XIX said.
Their headteacher became suspicious after noticing a “strange smell” coming from the school bathrooms and children not being able to stay alert during their lessons, the newspaper said.
Police were called in and found joints in the school bathrooms, which they reportedly traced to Nocera’s bar.
Cannabis has been the subject of much debate in Italy in recent months.
Earlier this month, Italy's Constitutional Court struck down an anti-drug law from 2006 that imposed tough sentencing for the sale and possession of cannabis, putting it on the same level as heroin and cocaine.
And in January Turin's city council approved a motion in favour of making the drug legal for therapeutic purposes, making it the first of Italy's large cities to do so.
SEE ALSO: Italy relaxes cannabis penalties
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Salvatore Nocera, 58, was arrested in the city of Acqui Terme after police surveillance showed him serving doses of hashish to children from the local high school.
With a prime location close to the city’s bus stop and train station, Nocera’s bar was a regular hangout for children on their way to school. The students would allegedly stop off to pick up cannabis en route to their lessons, Il Secolo XIX said.
Their headteacher became suspicious after noticing a “strange smell” coming from the school bathrooms and children not being able to stay alert during their lessons, the newspaper said.
Police were called in and found joints in the school bathrooms, which they reportedly traced to Nocera’s bar.
Cannabis has been the subject of much debate in Italy in recent months.
Earlier this month, Italy's Constitutional Court struck down an anti-drug law from 2006 that imposed tough sentencing for the sale and possession of cannabis, putting it on the same level as heroin and cocaine.
And in January Turin's city council approved a motion in favour of making the drug legal for therapeutic purposes, making it the first of Italy's large cities to do so.
SEE ALSO: Italy relaxes cannabis penalties
Don't miss a story about Italy - Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
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