Cannabis should be a legally regulated substance sold from licensed shops and taxed like alcohol and tobacco, ADPD has argued in a call to update drug laws.
“Drug use should no longer be considered a criminal offence,” ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said on Saturday. “When it comes to cannabis, we should stop once and for all destroying people’s lives because they grow some plants for personal use, or because they share a joint.”
The party welcomed news of a white paper concerning the decriminalisation of cannabis possession for personal use and said it hoped it would lead to drug policy in the country adopting a “human face”.
“Hopefully the reform that government is saying it will implement will at least mean that drugs are classified into hard drugs and other lighter drugs,” Cacopardo said, noting that a global commission on drug policy has long advocated a shift away from drug prohibition.
The party’s position reflects the position adopted by Alternattiva Demokratika in its 2017 electoral manifesto, which called for cannabis to be taxed and regulated and argued that authorities’ efforts should be focused on harm reduction rather than cracking down on users.
While possession of under 3.5 grams of cannabis has technically been decriminalised in Malta, police can still arrest anyone caught with the substance.
Times of Malta reported last month that police press charges for cannabis possession against an average of one person a day, with cannabis possession charges making up more than half the cases heard by a drugs tribunal.
Cacopardo said this was a waste of police resources.
“Police certainly have better things to do, such as focusing on drug traffickers, tax fraud, and on combating violent and organised crime,” he argued.
ADPD spokesperson Samuel Muscat said the party stood by drug decriminalisation proposals laid out by AD in 2017, and argued that Malta should look to Portugal, which decriminalised drugs for personal use in 2001, for inspiration.
“The Portuguese model has worked, it has reduced the harm on users and reduced the abuse of drugs,” Muscat said.
“For us it is clear and straightforward: cannabis use and growth for personal use must be decriminalised. The sale of certain types of cannabis should be regulated in the same way as the sale of tobacco and alcohol is regulated and taxed,” he said.