Malta Set To Become First European Country To Legalise Cannabis For Personal Use Tomorrow
Malta is set to become the first European country to partially legalise cannabis for personal use, with a landmark Parliament vote scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
This major achievement for the island was acknowledged by The Guardian, which noted in an article today that Malta is set to pip Luxembourg as a European cannabis pioneer.
Germany and Switzerland are also planning to legalise cannabis, while Italy could hold a referendum to loosen its weed laws. While the Netherlands is renowned for its cannabis coffeeshops and relaxed attitude to the plant, the recreational use and sale of weed is technically illegal but tolerated under its gedoogbeleid policy.
It is therefore Malta that will become the first European country to establish a legally regulated market for cannabis.
MPs will vote on the bill tomorrow, after which it will be sent to President George Vella for his signature to be enacted by the weekend.
Reforms Minister Owen Bonnici told The Guardian that while the government doesn’t want to encourage the use of recreational drugs, it recognises that the current regime is causing unfair suffering to cannabis users.
“There is a wave of understanding now that the hard-fist approach against cannabis users was disproportionate, unjust and it was rendering a lot of suffering to people who are leading exemplary lives,” he said. “But the fact that they make use on a personal basis of cannabis is putting them in the jaws of criminality.”
“I’m very glad that Malta will be the first country which will put words in statute in a comprehensive manner with a regulatory authority”.
When the law passes, people aged 18 and over will be able to carry up to seven grams of cannabis on their person and grow up to four plants at home, with police unable to arrest them unless they have reasonable suspicion of trafficking.
Smoking in public and consuming it in front of a child will remain prohibited.
Those found with between 7g and 28g of cannabis will appear in front of a tribunal instead of a criminal court, a significant reduction in the current 3.5g threshold.
The bill also proposes the formation of regulated “cannabis associations”, NGOs which will be licensed to grow cannabis on behalf of its signed-up members.
These associations will be limited to 500 members and will only be able to distribute up to 7g a day per person and a maximum of 50g a month.
A new Authority on the Responsible Use of Cannabis will be set up and people convicted of cannabis-related crimes that are no longer criminal will be able to get these details expunged from their criminal record.
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