Paola Pain Clinic Staff Strip-Searched And Interrogated Over Suspicions That CBD Was Cannabis
At least three staff members working at a wellness clinic in Paola were arrested on Friday, with some of them even strip-searched by police, Lovin Malta is informed.
Staff at the Pain Clinic in Paola – a clinic specialising in alternative options to address pain management, including medical cannabis – were targeted in a police raid early Friday morning over suspicions that a package of CBD flowers (non-psychoactive medicinal product) was cannabis.
Staff were released from police custody within hours – and now, major concerns are being raised over how police conducted their operation.
Activists and medical practitioners are questioning why the CBD flowers (which are legal under Malta’s new cannabis laws) weren’t tested or verified before arresting staff working at a clinic.
Among the people arrested was a 53-year old grandmother, who was stripped, had her cavities searched and kept in police lock-up afterwards.
The doctor who runs the clinic, Dr Andrew Agius, was held in police custody after his staff members were released; however, he has since been released from custody.
Since the raid, patients at the Pain Clinic have reached out to Lovin Malta, questioning whether they’ll be able to continue receiving their prescriptions.
The clinic’s social media page is no longer online, with many within the medical community wondering what redress the doctor and his staff can turn to if it does indeed result that they were arrested and strip searched over incorrect information.
Though Malta approved a groundbreaking cannabis bill late last year, it has yet to be put to the test legally, with many of its provisions – such as having a cannabis authority set up, or having social associations set up – still yet to hit the ground.
However, with medical practitioners facing arrest and cavity searches over what may have been legal CBD medicine, all eyes now turn to the police to see what their next move will be.
What do you think should have happened in this case?
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