Bernard Grech Made ‘Eight U-Turns’ On Cannabis Law, Reforms Minister Warns
Reforms Minister Owen Bonnici has slammed Bernard Grech for his stance on cannabis reform, claiming the Opposition Leader has taken no fewer than nine stances, making eight U-turns in the process.
“First he said he’s in favour of cannabis decriminalisation, then he sat on the fence when the White Paper was published, then he said the reform should introduce a route to buy cannabis from, then he said we copied him,” Bonnici told a press conference.
“Then he said the reform will create a drug abuse culture, then he didn’t speak in Parliament or present any amendments to the law, then he described the law as alienation, then he said he will need to see the data before deciding what to do with the law as Prime Minister.”
“Now he’s saying he will discard the law.”
This last statement (that Grech will discard the law) needs some unpacking.
During a recent interview with Lovin Malta, Grech was asked whether he will keep the cannabis legalisation law if the PN wins the upcoming election.
“We want to keep on moving forwards,” Grech responded. “The law is there and we don’t have a problem with it remaining there but we recognise the harm it causes and, because we are firm in our beliefs, we will address them.”
Although Grech said straight out that he will keep the law, Bonnici claimed that the Opposition leader’s choice of words betrayed his intention to actually scrap it.
“He linked the law to harm that must be recognised and addressed and said the PN must be firm in its beliefs,” Bonnici said. “It is therefore clear that Bernard Grech will scrap the law, which he believes causes harm.”
However, the Nationalist Party insisted it has no intention of scrapping the cannabis law.
“A government led by Bernard Grech will study the impact of the cannabis reform with the intention of reducing harm,” it said. “This has consistently been the PN’s position from the first day the law came into force.”
“It is clear that the PL has no ideas and is stuck in the past. Rather than speaking about its vision for the country, they spent an entire press conference speaking about Bernard Grech, as [Prime Minister] Robert Abela did yesterday in one of the only interviews he has given since becoming Prime Minister.”
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