Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1342444
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 FEBRUARY 2021 INTERVIEW The problem with cannabis is that it doesn't have a label There is a stereotype of the typ- ical cannabis user as a (mostly young) 'non-productive mem- ber of the community'. But as the country discusses decrimi- nalization, more and more pub- lic figures are crawling out of the woodwork to offer a very different view. On the basis of your own experience with Re- leaf: what is the real profile of the typical cannabis user? It's not possible to give a single answer, because the reality is that people from all walks of life use cannabis: including profession- als, non-professionals, business- men, airline pilots, and people who occupy all sorts of responsi- ble positions in society. And yes, coach potatoes, too…. I won't mention names, but one of the first people who ap- proached us, when we set up the NGO, was a priest. He told us he was a cannabis user, and went into all this spiel about how it 'comes from God', etc. So the profile of a typical cannabis user could be… literally anybody. At Releaf, for instance, we form part of a pan-European network of NGOS and charities like ours: all campaigning for a more rea- sonable approach to cannabis regulation. But it's not just ac- tivists, or the sort of people you might expect. There are doctors, lawyers, scientists… and what unites them is a common con- cern that our present drug-pol- icies are failing; as well as a de- sire to make sure that policy is changed at European level. Meanwhile, in Malta there are certainly signs that a discussion is under way. The Prime Minis- ter has just announced a White Paper on a possible new drug reform. From what you've seen so far, does it conform to your expectations? In general, the gist of what the Prime Minister is proposing – that he is considering allowing cultivation of a couple of plants; and that people should stop get- ting arrested for simple posses- sion – was all broadly in line with what we suggested in our meet- ing with him on February 9. During that meeting, we homed in on two specific issues, that I am pleased to see were both highlighted in Robert Abela's proposals. One is the right to grow: be- cause for us, that is one of the most fundamental aspects of the whole reform. It hits a lot of nails on the head: you can con- trol your own product, so there is no danger of the cannabis being adulterated with other substanc- es; you don't have to go out and deal with the criminal market to score; and so on. There is also the issue of funda- mental human rights; such as the right to privacy, and what an in- dividual is free, or not free, to do in the privacy of his own home; as well as the right to personal de- velopment. But one other right - which many people seem not to un- derstand - is the right to health. The perception of cannabis, for instance, is that it is a one-com- pound drug; that its only active ingredient is THC, and the only point in taking it is 'to get high'. But the reality is much more com- plex than that. Cannabis contains hundreds of compounds – can- nabinoids, terpenoids, etc. – and the way drug affects an individual depends on the balance of these compounds. And people take it for all sorts of different reasons, too: includ- ing therapeutic ones. This is why the lack of access to information on what is in the plant – as you would get, by law, with any clin- ically-approved medicinal prod- uct – is basically risky. As things stand today, all you get is just a transparent baggy with a bud in it. But you won't know what's in that bud, or how it will affect you… There is, however, an irony in what you're saying. Opponents to decriminalization use the same reasoning – the complex- ity of the drug – to argue that cannabis is harmful. At the same time, however, we have legal- ized medical cannabis, in recog- nition that the same plant also has beneficial health properties. Do you see a contradiction in that? It's either 'harmful', or it has 'health benefits'. We have to make up our minds. But if you ask me, the most dangerous aspect of cannabis, under the current legal model, is that… it doesn't have a label. If you compare with medical cannabis, for instance: people buying those products do not run the same risk as the small percentage of recreational can- nabis users who might develop problems. That is because, for one thing, they are dealing with a doctor: who prescribes the drug after a sit-down talk, in which the user is told what's in it, and how it should be consumed. This au- There is more to the cannabis decriminalisation debate than a simple reform of drug legislation. ANDREW BONELLO, president of pro-legalisaton NGO Releaf Malta, argues that our current approach is causing more harm than the drug itself PHOTO: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTATODAY Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt