Cannabis in Malta—big business or laxing restrictions?

A view of what has happened on the local scene in Malta regarding Marijuana (or Cannabis) use over recent years is rather confusing and rather unsettling. To state that the laws and restrictions regulating Cannabis use for recreational purposes have not worked is to state the obvious. The biggest problem created by this traditionally restrictive view was the arresting, indictment and even imprisonment of users over the years and their subsequent loss of a clean police record. We have not seen much evidence of major harm or long-term ill effects from its recreational use and clearly many have flouted the law and used it with impunity for many years. The local organization promoting the liberalization of Cannabis use in Malta, ‘Releaf’ describes its scope as that of taking the economic power out of criminalized gangs and putting it into the hands of the people and the state (http://releaf.com.mt/en/). Effectively, the vast amounts of illegally smuggled Marijuana on the islands, mostly by ship or smaller boats—estimated by the significant volumes caught locally, suggest that there are strong economic powers involved in its exploitation and exportation.