Cannabis authority accounts to be published ‘in coming weeks’
Just over 5.7 tonnes of cannabis not suitable for consumption was destroyed
Outstanding annual accounts covering the first three years of the recreational cannabis regulator will be published “in the coming weeks”, the Prime Minister has said.
The Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis (ARUC) is obliged to publish its annual accounts in parliament within around four-and-a-half months from the end of the financial year.
Responding to a parliamentary question on Thursday from PN MP David Agius, Robert Abela said an annual operational report had been prepared and annual financial accounts were “in the final stages of being concluded and will be presented in the coming weeks”.
Agius had asked Abela to provide details of profits made by ARUC from cannabis associations, harm-reduction initiatives and community contributions, covering 2023 until the end of last year.
Abela was also asked to provide details about the authority’s budget.
A separate request for details of its advertising expenditure remains undisclosed; the prime minister said the information was still being collected.
The same sitting saw Abela reveal that more than a tonne of cannabis had been distributed by the over 21,000 cannabis plants registered to associations from the start of 2024 to the end of last year.
Just over 5.7 tonnes of cannabis not suitable for consumption was destroyed.
The quizzing on the authority’s activities comes just over three years after the start of its operations; while ARUC was created in 2021 following legislation allowing for home-growing and recreational consumption of cannabis, commercial activities began in 2023, when the first associations were granted licences.
Cannabis associations may have annual licence fees scaled up according to membership; while those with up to 50 members pay €1,000 per year, those with between 351 and 500 members pay an annual €26,000 per year.
Associations are also expected to contribute five per cent of their total annual revenue towards harm-reduction efforts and 10 per cent of their net revenue towards community projects.
ARUC is obliged to provide the minister responsible for the authority with an annual report covering its financial and operational activities for the previous year within three months of the end of the financial year.
That report should be tabled in parliament within a further six weeks – or within the second week of MPs reconvening should the house not be in session at that time.
In November, the justice minister told parliament that only one person had appeared in front of the commissioner for justice – who sees cases of those caught for carrying more than the legal limit of seven kilograms, but less than 28 grams – in the first 11 months of that year.