News 21/07/2002

Drug sharing should not warrant a mandatory prison term – Minister

By a staff reporter

Departing slightly from the radical ‘war on drugs’ philosophy that has hounded Maltese politics for decades, Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg told MaltaToday that he favours changing the mandatory prison sentence to an optional one in case of drug sharing between drug addicts.

Dr Borg’s statement comes in the wake of a softer approach adopted in the UK toward the use and possession of cannabis, which has been reclassified as a Class C drug along with anabolic steroids, anti-depressants and growth hormones.

Dr Borg insisted that he was not in favour of de-penalising the offence of possession of cannabis, when answering questions put to him by this newspaper in relation to the drug reforms in the UK. However, he said that he was in favour of applying the law in a "human way."

The Home Affairs Minister recalled that despite stiff objections in Parliament from the Opposition, government had amended the law so that a person importing cannabis for his own personal use will not be punished anymore by a mandatory term of imprisonment.

The situation prior to these amendments gave rise to two renowned cases of young tourists being caught with a cannabis joint for personal use, at the airport and being sentenced to six months in prison.

Asked by MaltaToday, Dr Borg did not comment on whether he agreed with the arrest and arraignment of individuals caught in possession of a cannabis joint. However, he did say that a step in the right direction would be a revision of the current definition of drug trafficking.

"We could retain the mandatory term of imprisonment for drug dealing and changing the mandatory imprisonment term to an optional one in cases of drug sharing between addicts," Dr Borg explained.

The minister added, "this change in the law however, requires a broad consensus and should emanate from a concerted thrust by all stakeholders and voluntary organisations working in this field."

Currently, addicts that share drugs are guilty of an offence and treated on the same level as major drug traffickers.

The reclassification of cannabis in the UK was cautiously welcomed by drug research organisation DrugScope. The organisation’s Chief Executive Roger Howard saw the step as a positive approach but encouraged the British government to go one step further and decriminalise possession of cannabis.

The measures announced by Britain’s Home Secretary David Blunkett still allow police officers to detain some people caught with the drug in some circumstances.