Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1489264
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JANUARY 2023 OPINION 11 tivated is done on the basis of a prediction of each member's consumption levels. The care of the plants, according to the formula chosen in each club, is carried out by voluntary mem- bers, staff hired directly by the club, or professional cul- tivators (who are usually also members) and who are paid for the land rental and the hours worked after producing the rel- evant invoices. The accounts are kept very carefully in case there is an in- vestigation or audit required. Distribution is done on the club's premises, which are normally in commercial build- ings or offices, and only club members and accompanying adults can attend. Cannabis is distributed in small quantities, for more or less immediate consumption. Most CSC also have a consumption area for members, although they often allow small quantities to be taken away for consumption over the following few days, so members don't have to attend on more regularly. The clubs produce and dis- tribute herbal cannabis, from both indoor and outdoor cul- tivation depending on the club. Sometimes CSCs also produce hashish, and increas- ingly, other products such as cream, oils, tinctures, edibles, etc. so as to promote alterna- tive consumption methods to smoking (Some clubs also loan out vaporizers). Club members pay membership fees propor- tionate to their consumption, which in turn are used by the CSC to cover production costs, storage and management. Per- taining to the core principles of an NGO and the role of a community approach, any eco- nomic profit generated is rein- vested in the association and agreed upon by all members. Social equity More and more jurisdictions moving towards legalisation and regulation of cannabis, notably some of the state level reform in the US, are incorpo- rating social equity principles into their models. The goal of these approaches is firstly to ensure that emerging markets remain diverse, allowing and encouraging new small to me- dium sized actors, and prevent- ing the market from becoming dominated by monopolies or oligopolies of powerful nation- al or transnational corporate interests, as has happened with global alcohol and tobacco markets. The risk is not only that smaller businesses will be una- ble to compete and be crowded out of the market or bought up in a corporate consolidation process, but also that large scale corporate power is able to distort policy making process in the interests of commercial profits rather than the public good. This process, of so-called cor- porate (or regulatory) capture, can already be witnessed to some degree in North Ameri- ca - most troublingly in the ac- tive investment of big alcohol and tobacco companies into the emerging cannabis mar- kets. Ways to mitigate these risks - such as limiting verti- cal integration within the in- dustry, limiting the number of production or retail licenses available to any one licensee, or restricting participation of alcoholandtobaccoindus- tryactors -areallbeingexplore- dorimplementedindifferent ju- risdictions. A second element of the so- cial equity approach is a more reparative one; ensuring and encouraging access to the mar- ket for illegal market actors and communities dispropor- tionately impacted by the war on drugs, as well as reinvesting a proportion of the tax reve- nues from the industry back into these communities. These social equity policies have in- creasingly become part of the evolving US landscape and can include elements such as preferential access to licens- es for equity candidates, of- ten supported by grants, loans and training. Reinvestment in impacted communities is also emerging more strongly, for example in New York 40% of state tax revenue will be invest- ed in local impacted commu- nities, while the figure in New Jersey is 70%. The emergence of such social equity models reflects both the role of activists and civil socie- ty groups in shaping emerging policy, and the growing ac- knowledgement that the bur- den of drug war harms has not been shared equally. Conclusion A human-centred and human rights-focused model for the design, implementation and oversight of cannabis regula- tory policy allows for things to be done differently and be done better. Therefore, not only learning from mistakes in the past but also trying to heal, at least some, of the unintend- ed consequences of the war on drugs, whilst preventing new- found regulatory traps and cor- porate capture. As Malta nears its one-year anniversary since enacting legislative changes allowing the limited possession and cultivation of cannabis, various questions continue to overshadow this important reform. Primarily, is the why and how not for profit cannabis associations will be established