Rimini man acquitted over one balcony cannabis plant and 47.85 g
A Rimini court acquitted a 62-year-old man of growing cannabis and of possessing it for dealing, finding insufficient evidence after local police seized a 140-cm plant from his balcony and about 47.85 g of marijuana and hashish in his flat. Plainclothes officers had posed as parcel couriers to get inside on 1 October 2026.
Rimini Local Police officers launched the operation on 1 October 2026 after
residents reported the smell and a marijuana plant visible on a balcony in a
central area of the city.[1]Plainclothes officers of the force’s judicial
squad arrested a man born in 1963 at his flat.[2]To get inside, the officers
posed as parcel couriers, then identified themselves and began searching the
flat.[2]The man was held under house arrest, and the next morning a judge
validated the arrest and ordered him to report to police four days a week while
awaiting trial.[2]After the validation the judge released him, RiminiToday
reported.[3]
The search found 43.10 g of marijuana already divided into doses, 4.75 g of
hashish and cellophane used to wrap the doses.[2]Officers also seized the
flowering plant on the balcony; police said it was 140 cm tall and weighed about
3.5 kg.[1]The force put the drugs at about 44.85 g, although its own itemised
weights add up to 47.85 g.[2]He had been arrested years earlier for the same
offence.[4]
The trial was held on 12 November 2026 at the Rimini court.[3]He was tried
for cannabis cultivation and possession for dealing.[3]The case was decided
under the abbreviated procedure, a fast-track trial on the case file.[3]The
court acquitted him for insufficient evidence.[1]He had always said the
marijuana was for therapeutic use, and his lawyer argued there was no evidence
he meant to deal.[1]
Photos and video
The marijuana plant seized from the balcony. Photo: Polizia Locale di RiminiPhoto details
The police statement and Il Resto del Carlino give the man's age as 62 and his birth year as 1963; Newsrimini gives 63.
The police statement puts the drug total at about 44.85 g, but its own itemised figures of 43.10 g of marijuana and 4.75 g of hashish add up to 47.85 g; the report uses the itemised weights.
Newsrimini names the defence lawyer as Luca Campana and RiminiToday names him as Nicola Campana.
The exact street or neighbourhood in central Rimini is not named.
The sources do not say whether the acquittal was appealed.
The court's full reasoning is not reported; the outcome is given only as an acquittal for insufficient evidence.
No value estimate for the drugs or the plant was published.
The reports do not say what condition or prescription, if any, supports the therapeutic-use claim.
The plant's 3,650 g is a fresh net weight including the inflorescences; no dried equivalent is given.
Police in Sansepolcro reported a 55-year-old man for unauthorised cultivation and production of cannabis after finding growing plants on his land, cut plants drying in sheds and inflorescences in his car. All the cannabis was seized and placed at the disposal of the judicial authority.
Police in San Felice a Cancello reported a man for resisting officers and holding drugs for trafficking after finding about 54 grams of hashish on his bedroom desk. Officers restrained him after he threatened to jump from his second-floor balcony, then took him to hospital in Aversa.
A Cremona court on 6 November 2026 refused house arrest for an 18-year-old Tunisian caught selling hashish on 24 September and held with one kilogram of the drug, ruling he had not learned from two months in prison. He will be tried with the fast-track procedure on 4 December while analysis of the seized hashish is pending.
Turin police closed the two-year 'Driver' investigation into a Turin-based drug ring with branches across central and northern Italy, placing six suspects under precautionary measures. The inquiry produced 21 arrests and seizures of about 700 kg of hashish and 70 kg of marijuana, alongside cocaine and ecstasy.
