Malta Considered Model State For Cannabis Laws In EU, But Users Are Still Waiting To Buy Legally
Malta is considered a model state for EU countries when it comes to cannabis laws, however, users are still in legal limbo when it comes to purchasing it.
Attending the biggest Cannabis conference in London on Wednesday, MEP Cyrus Engerer heralded Malta’s progress when it came to cannabis laws, explaining that other EU states are now looking at Malta on how to implement better legislation.
“Having arrived early to the conference, I sat down to listen to the panel discussions before the one I was participating in and without wanting I smiled. One speaker after the other ended up speaking about Malta’s success and explaining how Malta has the best model and legislation for the personal use of cannabis”, he said at the end of the conference.
“Since the first day of a Labour Government ten years ago, we embarked on a journey of progressive reform putting personal liberties and the protection of fundamental human rights at the core of our politics”, Engerer said when asked about how Malta managed to become the model country for the future.
He explained that the ultimate aim was that no one is sent to prison for smoking a joint, in the same way, that no one is sentenced for drinking alcohol, even excessively, which has far more negative implications on the health of the user.
However, while Malta’s lax laws on weed have been introduced last year, there are still no legal outlets where a user can purchase it.
In September 2021, Prime Minister Robert Abela acknowledged that allowing people to possess cannabis without providing a legal outlet from where they can buy it will only incentivise people to resort to the black market.
“It wouldn’t make sense to amend the law while leaving a vacuum on what the legal source should be,” he said.
Lawyer Franco Debono also criticised the fact that Malta might be the only country in the world where weed is legal, but you can’t buy it legally.
Two months later in November 2021, a law was passed that allowed people to possess up to 7g of cannabis on their person without any repercussions and to grow up to four cannabis plants at home.
The law also introduced the concept of “cannabis associations”, which would cultivate the plant and distribute it to its signed-up members and will have to abide by several regulations enforced by the new Cannabis Authority.
Mariella Dimech, the Cannabis Authority’s first executive chairperson, was given a contract worth up to €82,000 a year and pledged that cannabis associations will be up and running by the end of 2022.
However, applications for associations just opened in February 2023, and Dimech was fired from the job that November after she criticised the government for not giving her the necessary resources and said she disagreed with the political strategy on cannabis.
Since the application process opened, at least seven companies have reserved their names to open their very own association with the Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis (ARUC). However, some potential investors spoke out about the challenges they faced, with some even saying the due diligence in the process was too high.
However, McKay, the new Cannabis Authority’s first executive chairperson argued that due diligence was necessary to safeguard the integrity of the new sector.
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