Reports of drug use reached 348 in one year, the highest figure ever reported in 14 years, an annual crime report revealed.
The report, published last week, revealed that drug reporting increased by 12 per cent in 2018 to 348 reports.
Drug reports can include possession or trafficking of the illicit substances. They must have been received by authorities from third parties for them to be included in the data.
Drug expert Godwin Sammut has long warned there has been an increase in different types of drugs entering the country. The chemist, who has been testing drugs seized by national authorities for over a decade, insisted market trends have shifted towards synthetic drugs.
Drugs were now ordered online and could arrive by post
The number of drugs entering the country has been on a steady upward trend for the past three or four years, he warned. Drugs were now ordered online and could arrive by post, leading to “more types of drugs which can be reported and seized”, Mr Sammut said.
Authorities had also previously sounded warnings they were finding it difficult to prosecute people making use of new synthetic drugs, which had yet to be regulated by law.
Read: ‘Boom’ in cocaine use in Malta
Earlier this week, Parliament approved a law equating psycho-active substances with drugs. Because of this law, the definition of “drugs” will be widened enough to include new drugs that have so far not been regulated, a government statement said.
The annual crime report shed light on the changing face of crime in the country. Law infractions were moving from the public sphere to the online domain, criminologist Saviour Formosa warned.
An increase in population, coupled with an influx of tourists, meant crime was now more diversified, Prof. Formosa said.
Cases of fraud increased by 30 per cent over the previous year, as new forms of digital crime emerged, he added. Fraud reports shot up to 1,032 in 2018, from 787 in 2017, he added.
The main increase was registered as fraudulent gains, making fraud the fourth most reported crime in the country.
Threats and public violence increased to 322 in 2018, mainly through stalking, blackmail and causing fear of violence. Reports of harassment experienced a reduction in reporting, the figures showed.
Sexual offences increased by 18 per cent (120 cases) in 2018, reversing the decreasing trend since 2015. Cottonera, Floriana, Għaxaq and Pembroke have two to five times the national rate of domestic violence reports, the report showed.