MHRA president calls cannabis legislation "very big mistake"

Tony Zahra, president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, has called out the government’s decision to legalise cannabis as “a very big mistake”

He says the government should reverse its cannabis legalisation because it has “created problems the tourism sector must absorb.”

"This was a very big mistake, and we must reverse this. Otherwise, we're going to have continuous problems," Zahra said during the presentation of the MHRA hotel survey by Deloitte on Friday.

The government has created a mismatch between its permissive drugs policy and its ability to police visitor behaviour, Zahra argued. The country cannot simply open its borders and then expect police and tourism authorities to manage the fallout.

He said that instead, Malta must tackle these problems "at their origin", a preventative approach rather than reactive damage control.

But enforcement alone is insufficient, Zahra suggested.

He pointed to Amsterdam's stricter stance as a model: visitors who break the law face jail time rather than tolerance. "This is the way we want the island to go forward," he said.

The MHRA president also targeted the alcohol sector, calling for restrictions on late-night sales by bottle shops. "We can't go on forever with situations where people buy cheap alcohol and get drunk," he said.

Low-cost travel compounds these challenges, Zahra warned, saying cheap airline fares mean Malta attracts visitors on tight budgets.

"Anybody who has €50 can get to Malta from anywhere, and some of them do have €20, but not much else. Some of them do come here without spending any money," he said. He pointed out the paradox this creates, having high visitor numbers but insufficient revenue to maintain standards.

Zahra insisted the sector cannot compromise on quality for quantity. "Of course, we should have a vibrant country and make it fun, but that doesn't mean turning it into a rubbish bin," he said.

Malta became the first EU country to permit recreational cannabis use in December 2021, allowing licensed non-profit associations to distribute cannabis to registered members only.