Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1363129
Cyrus Engerer is a Labour MEP (S&D) Cyrus Engerer 12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 APRIL 2021 OPINION The future is here and we cannot be afraid of it. It's time to implement Cultivation Social Enterprises as part of our national policies on recreational cannabis THE research is clear. The war on drugs has failed. Prohibition policies have failed. The "say no to drugs and be proud of it" plas- tered on all of our copybooks had as had little to no impact on the lives of young Maltese people. For the longest time, we have been having the wrong conversa- tion, with the wrong people and in the wrong setting – and finally, this is all changing. The future is here and we can- not be afraid of it. For all too long our society has incarcerated son after son, father after father, mother after mother and daugh- ter after daughter for a victimless crime – the recreational use of cannabis. And this will not go on much longer. It's time to listen to the aca- demics, the scientists, the social workers and the activists on the ground with regards to how we can start to face the reality that many people across Malta, the EU and the world use cannabis, and that cannabis users have human rights that must be pro- tected – as consumers, as citizens and as human beings. In the 2017 Labour Party man- ifesto, Partit Laburista pledged to address this issue. And in a next natural step following the introduction of many civil liber- ties and freedoms in Malta, this year it introduced a white paper which is up for public consulta- tion. This is living proof that Par- tit Laburista wants to rectify an issue which has created countless victims of a legal system which punishes them for doing nothing more than just smoking a joint. But with great freedom comes great responsibility. Thus, in or- der that we stick to both social and progressive values, we must ensure that any policy we imple- ment is rooted in the social com- munity and strays far away from hyper-capitalist development that has brought down countless cannabis policy models across the world. Tomorrow, just a day away from the 20 April, the day cannabis us- ers from all across the world get together to raise awareness on recreational cannabis policies, I will be hosting a European Par- liament, high-level conference together with the European Coa- lition for Just and Effective Drug Policies. This conference brings together member state organisa- tions, academics, journalists, hu- man rights experts, toxicologists, harm reduction specialists, MPs and MEPs to discuss this issue and the way forward for all those forces across Europe who believe in a human rights-based cannabis policies. As a politician, who sits firmly and proudly on the left, I believe that as a society, we must lead our debate by basing our information on evidence which focuses on harm reduction and best practice. Such a debate must include an open and honest discussion, not only with young people, but also older ones who have been using cannabis for decades, about drugs and drug use, and a legal frame- work which leaves no one behind. As a local politician, and a cit- izen of Malta I have decided to contribute to the public consulta- tion. In my recommendations to the government, I will be propos- ing that we firstly shift the focus of this topic from the discussion sphere relating to home affairs, police and justice to the health and social policy sphere. In terms of concrete action, I will be proposing a cultivation social enterprise model similar to the ones established in Uru- guay. Such a model would create the establishment of non-profits which would be legally allowed to grow cannabis on behalf of registered members. Such a club, which would be mandated to ad- here to strict security measures of the highest regard, would also be mandated to adopt communi- ty-enhancement measures. Such measures could include educational and information campaigns which would stay away from the "war on drugs" fal- lacies that create fearmongering, and instead be encouraged to use harm reduction measures, empa- thy and understanding to show- case clear, scientifically accurate information. Additionally, in my recommen- dations to the government, I will be proposing that such facilities are also empowered to link mem- bers to community-based ser- vices, such as addiction services or psycho-social services, should they need them. In the system I will be proposing these non-prof- its would be required to adhere to total financial transparency and accountability to the public. Additionally, access to such social enterprises would be only available to registered members of the club who must be residents of Malta. Members would be mandated to go through intake interviews where the social enter- prise would need to find out more information about the member as a cannabis user – such as their frequency of use, their personal history with cannabis use, infor- mation on in what settings they consume, their lifestyle and the Cannabis: the way forward is social enterprise