Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1363999
14 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 21 APRIL 2021 ANALYSIS JAMES DEBONO OPPOSITION leader Bernard Grech risks sending out a convulted message to his electorate by derided the govern- ment's cannabis decriminalisation as a vote-catching exercise: his party is caught yet again hunting with the hounds and running with the hares, failing to please liberals clamouring for a more compre- hensive reform, and pandering to con- servatives sceptical on any 'normalisa- tion' of cannabis use. Grech's Sunday performance was a linguistic game. He did not backtrack on his party's lukewarm support for decriminalisation, but Grech was eager to downplay the reform as a superficial vote-grabbing exercise. Keen to point out that cannabis activists had also ex- pressed doubts on the reform (really for not going far enough...), Grech hinted that legalisation remained off limits for his party. His first error was to attribute the PL's poll boosts among young people to the proposed cannabis reform, giving the impression that younger people are ei- ther gullible or one-track minded, and running the risk of insulting their intel- ligence. He is ignoring the fact that even some of the government's harshest critics on rule of law issues and environmental policies, may actually agree with the White Paper simply because it is sensi- ble not to criminalise harmless people who pose no danger to society. Grech's criticism of Labour's political oppor- tunism in championing liberal reforms begs the question: what's wrong if the government gains in popularity by ad- vocating an overhaul of oppressive and unfair laws? So by attributing Labour's success in the polls to the popularity of the can- nabis reform amongst the young, Grech may well have shot himself in the foot, swallowing Abela's bait wholly and fur- ther alienating the young not just by at- tacking the reform but also by depicting them as gullible pawns in Abela's polit- ical games. A survey-driven reform? Past surveys do not even give credence to Grech's claim that the cannabis re- form is survey-driven. The latest Malta- Today survey on the topic held in 2019 shows that 67% of the Maltese, includ- ing 57% of under-35s, are against legal- ising cannabis. That does not mean that the reform is not to Labour's electoral advantage. For while many who are against legali- sation will not change their vote if such a reform is elected, some cannabis users may actually prioritise this issue over others. Moreover one major reason why some cannabis users may be tempted to shift their vote is that they remain suspi- cious of the PN, which completely ig- nored them during its 25 years in office, marked by a draconian approach to the drug laws which culminated in the me- dia sensation in the Daniel Holmes case. Grech's comments on Sunday may fur- ther reinforce their mistrust. Grech also equates decriminalisation with not sending people to jail, ignoring other unsavoury consequences faced by users after the 2015 reform, which did not stop police from arresting and questioning people found with small amounts of cannabis, as was the case with a couple arrested in a hotel room on Valentine's day. Grech's hard balancing act Grech may also be responding to elec- toral pressures of his own, which in- clude an overriding concern of keeping both liberal and conservative voices on board. But he tisks pleasing neither side of the debate. Following disappointing results in last week's surveys, Grech seems to have shifted from its initial non-confronta- tional stance – which emphasised the party's consistent position since 2015 in favour of decriminalisation – to one which is more aggressive and in line with the more conservative views of a majority of party activists. Yet when it comes to the substance of the law itself Grech is playing for time, insisting that the party needs more time to consult with stakeholders before coming with a position of its own. By calling for more research, the PN also risks giving an impression that it is unable to take a decision which risks splitting liberals and conservatives in the Nationalist Party itself. For while more evidence if required on various practical aspects of the law, the decision whether to criminalise a harm- less segment of the population and to provide them with a legal alternative to the black market, is a political decision based on fairness and human dignity. While it is important to assess all re- search on this sensitive topic, it is ulti- mately the politicians' job to weigh up Grech on cannabis: gullible young Does Bernard Grech risk pleasing nobody by agreeing with the decriminalisation of cannabis only to deride the reform as a ploy by Labour to get young peoples' votes? Suggesting that young people have swallowed the Labour bait could backfire...