Announced drugs court reform cosmetic - PL spokesman

The Drugs Court reform as announced by the new Justice Minister was a cosmetic one which did not include changes that were important to address the drug problem in Malta, Jose Herrera, the PL's spokesman for Justice said this morning.

Addressing a news conference, Dr Herrera said the PL agreed the time had come for the setting up of a Drugs Court but the required reform was not just for the building of a hall where cases related to drugs would be heard but had to include a new method of how to address the problem.

The PL would have expected the government to launch a consultation exercise with all concerned including people in the legal sector and those who worked with victims.

The law in Malta had been built over a period of time and it was not enough to rehabilitate those guilty of possession.

It jarred with the Convention for Dangerous Drugs, which had been signed by Malta, and this was because the convention insisted there should be a special law on cultivation. All types of cultivation were considered trafficking in Malta and those caught would end up in prison.

Dr Herrera emphasised the need for courts to have the freedom to give fines that were alternative to a prison sentence, especially since there was a serious drug problem in prisons.

He proposed that the Drugs Court should include a team of experts to help the Court to give the correct sentencing, which would focus more on rehabilitation.

He also mentioned a number of anomalies which should be addressed, including the Attorney General's absolute power to decide whether an accused should appear in front of a magistrate or go through a trial.

There were also procedural anomalies, including in the collection of evidence, where the fundamental principles of justice were not always respected.

Dr Herrera said the drugs problem had become a social one which had been ignored for years. He encouraged the minister to take up the proposals that were being made by the Opposition and said that it would be making more proposals in future.