A prison sentence will no longer be mandatory for people convicted of cultivating more than one cannabis plant for their personal use, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said on Thursday.

He said that a bill which will be introduced when parliament reconvenes in January will enable the courts to apply the punishment which they consider appropriate in the circumstances.

The amendments have been drawn up in the wake of complaints by a magistrate who said she had been forced by the law to send a woman to prison when she did not consider that to be appropriate.

Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras said she had no option but to jail a 39-year-old woman for six months for cultivating six small cannabis plants for her personal use because the law failed to distinguish between those who deserves an effective jail term”. 

She had ordered a copy of her ruling to be sent to Dr Bonnici.

Dr Bonnici said that in terms of the new amendments, a court would be able to decide whether or not to sentence somebody to jail or impose some other punishment.

He stressed that the amendments would not apply to people convicted of cultivating plants to traffic, adding that people looking to making money should find honest work rather than sell drugs.