Joseph Muscat: Malta Did ‘Fantastic Job’ On Cannabis Bill, But There’s Still One ‘Sore Point… The Banks’
Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has praised the island’s pioneering cannabis regulation bill, saying the Robert Abela administration did a “fantastic job” with it.
“I totally agreed with the bill,” Muscat said in a new interview with Lovin Malta. “It was even better than I had envisaged. It was a fantastic job by Julia Farrugia Portelli, Rosianne Cutajar and Owen Bonnici, and it’s obvious the Prime Minister put the impetus for it to be done.”
Last December, Malta agreed on a bill that would see the possession of up to seven grams decriminalised, along with the allowance for people to grow up to four cannabis plants in their home, among other things.
Though he praised legislators for the bill, he said there was one remaining “sore point”.
“I think the only real sore point in all this is the fact that banks will still not back anyone that touches the industry, so it will continue to be mostly a cash -based industry, and that will impinge on its legitimacy,” he said.
Malta’s banks have spoken openly of having little interest in the cannabis industry, be it for medical use or personal use.
Back in 2019, former BOV CEO Mario Mallia said: “We do not have the necessary skills to understand this business. If you do not understand the business, how can you take risks? If the government is promoting it, it does not mean the banks have the risk appetite to accommodate the industry.”
What do you make of Muscat’s perspective?
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