Junior College Students To Be Charged For Smoking Weed On Campus
Three Junior College students are going to be charged with “drug-related offences” for smoking weed on campus, the police have confirmed.
The administration of Junior College called in the police last month after receiving a tip-off that students were using “illicit substances” within the premises of the school. Following a surprise inspection, three students were detained for interrogation.
The police did not specify what drug the students were caught with back then, but a police spokesperson has now confirmed with Lovin Malta that they were caught with cannabis. Follow-up questions on the quantity of cannabis found on their person remain unanswered as of the time of writing.
Since Malta’s new drug laws passed three years ago, people caught with under 3.5g of cannabis are no longer charged in court but are instead fined between €50 and €100 and made to appear in front of the Justice Commissioner. The Commissioner, social worker Vicky Scicluna, can either give the users advice or refer them to a rehabilitation board if she believes they suffer from addiction. However, the law does not apply to ‘trafficking’, which – in Maltese law – means as little as passing a joint to a friend. Trafficking carries with a minimum mandatory jail sentence of six months. Moreover, punishment for drug offences is usually increased when the offence take place within 100m of schools, youth clubs or other area frequented by youths.
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