Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1418273
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 OCTOBER 2021 NEWS COURT NOTICE K ARL AZZOPARDI MALTA will allow non-profit associations to grow cannabis and distribute it among mem- bers, in new legislations to reg- ulate home-growing of recrea- tional cannabis. The islands will follow in the footsteps of other EU coun- tries which are trying to reduce the harm caused by criminal- isation, while learning from the negatives of the models in countries like Holland. Countries which regularised cannabis in recent years have each implemented various models, ranging from mar- ket liberalisation, with private operators running 'cannabis clubs' where each patron is granted a limited amount of cannabis; to a nationalised dis- pensary system. The coffee-shop culture in Amsterdam started back in the 1980s when the country adapt- ed its drug policy to be more tolerant of users while still tak- ing a hard stance against the illegal drug trade. The end to the prosecution of cannabis offences led people to sell cannabis in coffee-shops and caused a huge increase in the number of such shops across the country. In order to control these sales, the Dutch government introduced re- strictions on coffee-shops in 1996. Today coffee-shops abide by strict conditions that preclude them from advertising the sale of cannabis, with no more than 500 grams allowed inside the establishment, sale to mi- nors prohibited, and no alco- hol allowed to be sold on site. Flouting these rules risks up to a six-month ban and even per- manent closure. Coffee-shops also cannot operate within a 250m radius of a school. Still, the Dutch model does have its own 'backdoor prob- lem': while consumers can purchase cannabis from a cof- fee-shop, the shop itself has no legal way of accessing the Malta a step closer to radical drugs reform Legislation not commercialisation: How cannabis has been regularised around Europe Zookeeper's irregularities sprawl into new site without permit JAMES DEBONO THE environmental watchdog has denounced illegal interven- tions on the Siggiewi zoo Arka Ta' Noe, carried out in a peri- od during which owner Anton Cutajar was seeking regularisa- tion. The Environment and Re- sources Authority said new plans to regularise more ille- galities in Cutajar's zoo showed a greater sprawl of irregular works. A comparison between previous plans from 2019, and plans submitted in August, shows further intensification of interventions without a valid permit. "These interventions have resulted in further take-up of undeveloped land and commit- ment of the site, and scattering of structures," the ERA said. Indeed the latest plans in- clude new structures over and above those already identified in 2019, which Cutajar wants sanc- tioned. These include new en- closures, stores and stables over a 2,000sq.m plot of formerly ag- ricultural land that had already been identified for the future expansion of the zoo. The permit to sanction Cuta- jar's illegally-built zoo over 10,000sq.m was approved by the PA board in 2017, despite the ERA's prophetic warning that this "would result in foreseea- ble, future pressures for exten- sions". In 2019, Cutajar presented new plans to sanction a number of new structures: a 260sq.m "mul- ti-purpose hall", a souvenir ki- osk, a 36-space car park, a farm- house with a swimming pool, and a number of animal cages and enclosures. The farmhouse with a pool was built within the footprint of the permitted de- velopment in an area previously identified for restrooms, a ma- nure clamp and a storeroom. The ERA then had objected to the regularisation, noting the area with illegalities spanned 5,488sq.m, while a masterplan for future expansion – of which no details have yet been provid- ed – wanted another 16,570sq.m of land. The latest plans show that a part of this site identified for "future expansion" has now al- ready been developed. In December 2020, Anton Cutajar has launched a scathing attack on the newly-appoint- Current indicates additional were carried concerns