Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1438074
the works… all the way back in 2001… … which, by the way, brings me to yet another reason to doubt that headline. OK, I know you're all going to think I'm splitting hairs, but…. when all is said and done (and, much more to the point, SIGNED) – the reality is that Malta has neither 'legalised', nor 'decriminalised', anything at all so far. For while the bill itself has been approved by Parliamentary… fact remains that it still has to be of- ficially endorsed by the President of the Republic; and (in case I ha- ven't mentioned this before) Dr George Vella is currently under ENORMOUS pressure not to actually comply, when that mo- ment finally arrives. To which, he stated yesterday, he will assent to his constitutional obligation. Meanwhile, I can't help but note that the latest to add to this pressure, was none other than former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi…. who ended his Face- book tirade on the following, ominous note: "Even if the bill is voted into law, someone has to step up and think about removing it as soon as possible using all the legitimate means." Was that a barb intended di- rectly for Vella himself? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it clear- ly underscores the fact that this same 'legalisation bill' – which the entire world has already (somewhat prematurely) hailed as a 'milestone in European leg- islation', and all that – has not yet been actually enshrined into Maltese law; and this, at a time when it is under siege from al- most every conceivable angle… and when there are other 'legiti- mate means' (including an abrog- ative referendum) that might also be invoked in future… At which point, we can no longer ignore the precise cause of all this opposition to begin with. Another of Gonzi's arguments – which is echoed, in different words, across the full spectrum of resistance - is that: "[he] can- not understand how a supposed socialist government which says it seeks the common good, is […] taking such a great risk which will surely have a negative effect on our society…' Now: with a huge, (superhu- man, almost) personal effort on my own part – honestly, though: the things I end up doing for oth- ers, during the Christmas season! – I will resist the temptation to spell out the more immediate iro- ny in that statement. (Except to point out that… erm… isn't this the same Lawrence Gonzi who had predicted 'cataclysmic con- sequences', if Malta were to ever legalise divorce? And have any of those predictions actually mate- rialised, in entire decade since we did precisely that, in 2011? No, I didn't think so either…) But never mind all that, be- cause… just as we now have a real yardstick by which to measure all those 'doomsday prophecies' of yesteryear… well, the same applies just as much to cannabis legalisation today. Like I said a little farther up: Portugal has already fully de- criminalised all illegal drugs, way back in 2001… yet according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction's statistics for 2020: "Levels of drug use in Portugal have been con- sistently below the European av- erage over the past twenty years. This is particularly the case among younger people: Portu- gal has some of the lowest usage rates in Europe among those between the ages of 15-34… […] In the first five years after drug policy reform, use of illegal drugs rose slightly among the general population but fell again in the following five years. Use among 15-24 year olds fell throughout the decade, and among the gen- eral population was lower in 2012 than in 2001…" Clearly, then, the statistical ev- idence for at least one European country suggests that: no, actu- ally. The consequences of a much more 'rational' approach to this issue– however you choose to describe it – are very far from 'cataclysmic' indeed. Actually, Portugal's experience shows us that drugs become a good LESS of a problem… in those coun- tries which finally realise that all their past drug policies were (to put it mildly) a complete, abject failure… But still: as things stand today, the likelihood of Malta really becoming 'the first EU nation to legalise cannabis' now rests only on the ability of one man – Dr George Vella – to make that long-overdue realisation for him- self (where so many others before him have clearly failed). So… not to add any undue pres- sure, or anything, but… Come on George! You know you can do it! 11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 DECEMBER 2021 OPINION I, for one, still struggle to discern any real difference – at least in the intention, if not the actual execution – between this latest drug-law reform, which 'legalised' cannabis… and the one passed by the same Parliament way back in 2015: which was supposed to 'decriminalise' the same drug, in what was (at the time) an equally 'historic' achievement Portugal's reforms in 2001 were more far-reaching than the abolition of penalties for using and possessing small quantities of drugs. Above all, they included major efforts to improve services for rapid and effective treatment, and good coordination between various healthcare interventions