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Thursday, March 14, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Malta becomes first EU nation to legalize cannabis, others may follow

The small island nation just passed a law that makes it legal to grow and use cannabis, likely becoming the first of several European countries to decriminalize the marijuana plant.

(CN) — As has already happened in several states in the United States, several nations in Europe are poised to make recreational use of cannabis legal, and Malta, an island nation that ranks as the EU's smallest member, is at the head of the pack.

President George Vella is expected this weekend to sign into law a bill called “Responsible Use of Cannabis,” allowing adults to grow and use cannabis in private places, following passage of the legislation Tuesday by the Maltese parliament.

The move follows a United Nations decision a year ago to remove cannabis from its list of the most dangerous drugs and recognize its medicinal properties. Reclassification by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs was expected to give a big boost to efforts to legalize cannabis around the world, but the panel still classifies its use for nonmedical and nonscientific purposes as illegal.

Uruguay became the first country to legalize cannabis in 2013, and pharmacies began selling it in 2017.

After Malta this week became the first European Union country to legalize cannabis for personal use, other European states are on track to follow suit.

The new center-left German government led by the Social Democrats and Greens included cannabis legalization in its manifesto. Italy is set to hold a referendum next year to see if a majority of Italians want its use to be legalized. Luxembourg and Switzerland are planning to adopt laws similar to Malta's.

In the Netherlands where people can smoke cannabis in special coffee houses, cannabis use has long been tolerated but not technically legal.

The country's experience with cannabis is the subject of intense debate both inside and outside the country. While many see the Netherlands as a model for drug policy, Holland also has become a major hub for drug traffickers and gang conflict and drug-related killings are a serious problem. Elsewhere in Europe, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Estonia have decriminalized cannabis but have not passed laws legalizing it.

Malta's law allows adults to carry up to 7 grams of cannabis and grow no more than four plants at home. Smoking it in public or in front of children will be illegal and incur a fine between $340 to $565. Anyone found with more than seven grams can be fined up to $115.

The law also permits people to buy seeds and buds and provides a path for those with previous convictions for cannabis possession to be cleared. Under the law, cannabis users can sign up with an association where they can buy seeds and buds.

Owen Bonnici, the country's equality minister, led efforts to get the bill passed and he said it was a “historic” day.

It will “curb drug trafficking by making sure that [users] now have a safe and regularized way from where they can obtain cannabis,” he said, according to the BBC.

“There is a wave of understanding now that the hard-fist approach against cannabis users was disproportionate, unjust and it was rendering a lot of suffering to people who are leading exemplary lives,” Bonnici told The Guardian.

Church groups, right-wing politicians and medical associations campaigned against legalization. Bernard Grech, the leader of the opposition Nationalist Party, warned that the law will strengthen the illegal market and organized crime groups.

Tom Blickman, a drug policy expert at the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute, hailed Malta's law as a good model for other European nations to follow.

“Malta passed a nuanced and responsible cannabis regulation bill with home cultivation and cannabis associations for supply, avoiding a North American commercial model,” he said. “Let's hope that sets a trend in Europe.”

Blickman believes there is a growing consensus in Europe that governments need to take control of the trade in cannabis away from criminal groups.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau
Categories / Government, International, Law

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