Weed advocates in Italy said they had gathered enough signatures to trigger a referendum on liberalising the use of cannabis, setting the stage for a nationwide vote on the issue early next year. The referendum proposal seeks to legalise the growing of weed for personal use and ease sanctions on other cannabis-related crimes, with offenders no longer risking prison sentences for selling small amounts of the drug. Organisers of the petition gathered the required 500,000 signatures in seven days, far more quickly than usual due to a law approved in July that allows signatures to be collected online. Previously, only in-person signing was allowed.