Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1436880
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 DECEMBER 2021 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Cannabis and driving ELSEWHERE in the local media, Adri- an Galea, director-general of the Malta Insurance Association, had identified a number of pitfalls with the draft Bill on legalising the use of cannabis while making reference to a report issued by the European Motoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCD- DA) in 2018. Months back I had read that report from beginning to end, and the conclu- sions therein contained should serve as a veritable eye-opener and foresight for our legislators before rushing to tread where angels fear to tread. Undoubtedly, we have a high number of individuals in our population who use the drug, thereby causing the number of people who drive after using cannabis to increase. Long after a person has used cannabis, normally between four and five hours, the effects of such use will nega- tively impact the manner in which that person drives and controls a vehicle, not to mention a possible increase in irre- sponsible driving and road rage. Mr Galea had thus lamented the fact that while the Bill prohibits the con- sumption of cannabis in a public place, it is totally silent about the prohibition of driving after personal use. He also called for a zero-tolerance approach with workers found to be under the influence of drugs on their workplace and with regard to driving under the influence of drugs. He also called for an urgent need to update the existing traffic regulation laws and to train and equip police of- ficers better. Such proposals should be fully heeded and adhered to immediately, and all that would be required are a few simple and straightforward legislative amendments. I would further add a proposal in the sense that whenever the police or comunity officers are called upon to investigate and report on serious traffic accidents they will be obliged to request that tests on urine, blood or breath be taken by all drivers involved in order to establish whether anyone of them has been impaired while driving. Such measures, coupled with a mas- sive public awareness campaign on the effects of cannabis use on driving capability, would somehow lessen the justified and legitimate concern being expressed by our insurance companies. Cannabis use and driving is a gamble that one just cannot win. Dr Mark Said Msida Seniority given the boot, thrift likewise! WHILE in Maltese we have the re- vered proverb 'Kliem ix-xiħ żomm fih' (pay heed to the elderly's wis- dom), in the civil service since af- ter becoming a Republic, this was discarded when seniority was given the boot, so as to facilitate youngish ladder-climbers. This has yet again been highlighted by the culprit himself, an ex-bureau- crat high-ranker, in his recently pub- lished tome. Despite the ladies and gentlmen who dedicated all their working lives to various sectors of the Civil Service not sporting a university degree, they carried with them the department's historic memory of how things were done, or how to go about improving same or fine-tuning processes with- out riding roughshod as many John- ny-come-lately-graduates did. Graduates who had a sponsored university education had a stipend paid from the taxes that employees forked out, prior to they themselves getting their monthly pay packet! Am I the only one who remem- bers that worthy last Postmaster General, a senior civil servant under whose leadership, supported by oth- er proud, lower-rank civil servants, yearly transferred hefty profits to the government of the day for necessary national expenditure? A very conscientious gent who made do with a clap-trap, hand-me- down, government-supplied vehicle which was more suitable for the rubbish tip than for use by a high- er-ranker; and the spendthrift spurge of the much younger top people who replaced him when this government department was turned into a para- statal corporation prior to its priva- tisation? A story repeated when other gov- ernment departments were hived off into agencies, authorities or institutions with their own budget setting, and not under the assiduous oversight of the Auditor General, but audited by private firms who, despite all their uprightness, themselves were paid by the self-same entity which they audit. Conflict of interest anyone? J. Bonett Balzan Balluta