Giuliano Amato, the Constitutional Court president, said the referendum included other narcotics considered to be hard drugs, which could not be liberalized.
Lawmaker Riccardo Magi, one of the referendum’s leading advocates, told Reuters the court’s decision was “a terrible blow to democracy,” after hundreds of thousands of people had signed up to the proposal.On Tuesday, the Court turned down a right-to-die referendum, saying the proposal did not safeguard minimum constitutional standards governing the protection of human life.