A cannabis user arrested in 2020 after he was caught with a cannabis plant at home has been cleared of criminal charges, as the law has since been changed to allow cannabis cultivation for personal use. 

Sean Briffa, 28 and from Żabbar, was targeted by a search and arrest warrant in May 2020 after police who searched him on the street found him with a sachet filled with a greenish substance, suspected of being a synthetic drug.

Inside his bedroom, police discovered one cannabis plant and three grinders bearing traces of the drug.

Briffa told police that the plant and sachet containing the synthetic substance were his. As a regular cannabis user since aged ten, he bought some three or four bags of cannabis a day.

The man also explained that this was the first time he had tried cultivating the drug inside his own room at home and insisted that the plant was for his own personal use, certainly not to sell.

He had not yet taken any buds from the plant, the man added.

Police pressed charges against the suspect for illegal cultivation and possession of cannabis. 

But pending those proceedings, legal amendments to the law meant that such cultivation, under certain circumstances, was no longer a criminal offence. 

In fact, in a sitting earlier this year, the prosecution declared that in view of those amendments and since the alleged offences pivoted upon one plant and 0.127 grams of the drug, it would not summon further witnesses. 

When delivering judgment the court, presided over by magistrate Josette Demicoli, made reference to the 2021 amendments to the Drug Dependence (Treatment not Imprisonment) Act.

Article 7 of that law stated that cultivation of up to four plants and possession not exceeding 50 grams of dried cannabis for personal use, by a person over the age of 18 at his official residence, is not a criminal offence and the person must not be kept in custody. 

Such plants must not be kept in a space visible to the public.

In this case, the solitary plant was found inside the accused’s room at his home and not visible to public view. 

This meant that article 7 applied and the charge concerning cultivation was extinguished. 

As for possession, since the amount found was under the legal limit, the accused was acquitted of that charge. 

Lawyer Mario Mifsud was defence counsel.