Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1520224
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 MAY 2024 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Thank you for not smoking… MALTA'S recent legalisation of recreational weed has set the standard for a non-profit model of cannabis associations dispens- ing limited amounts of regulate marijuana for personal use. Together with the ability to pos- sess small amounts of marijuana for personal use, the Maltese experience follows on from that pioneered in so many Ameri- can states, where nearly half the country has decriminalised the drug. Similarly, many American states also still ban the smoking of weed in public streets and parks – a unique form of restriction for something that is actually legal to consume, when considering oth- er harmful forms of tobacco that are allowed to be consumed pub- licly. The fine for anyone caught consuming cannabis in public is €235 apart from appearing before a justice commissionerl It goes up to €500 for smoking in front of a minor. But what happens when the pungent smoke of cannabis seeps through the doors of private apartment dwellers and annoys nearby tenants? Odours from cannabis smoke might be a new kind of civic prob- lem that have yet to be addressed in the climate of recent liberali- sation. MPs like Claudette Butt- igieg have previously complained that a lack of enforcement on cannabis smoking in public plac- es is leading to a greater nuisance with the smell of weed permeat- ing on walkways. But her anec- dotal claim that a guide dog ac- companying a visually impaired man had "got high from inhaling second-hand cannabis smoke in a restaurant", and was therefore unable to take its owner home, was met with some derision. The example may be one of just a few complaints, committed to the parliamentary record, on the question-mark about 'antisocial' cannabis smoking since its de- criminalisation: what to do about a smell that non-smokers (and tobacco smokers) might not find gratifying? Buttigieg claimed that the vis- ually impaired man she spoke about was eating out in a restau- rant and that the venue's smok- ing area could have hosted people smoking cannabis – the allega- tion is indication that certain res- taurants and bars are tolerating the smoking of cannabis on their premises or in their open-air ar- eas. Buttigieg and other PN MPs have argued that the change in cannabis laws have normalised the smoking of cannabis in pub- lic without any real enforcement of the law. "There is no enforce- ment of the laws we pass here. How come nobody gets caught smoking in public? Is it possi- ble that only we [the Opposition MPs] smell cannabis smoke on the street? Go for a walk in plac- es like Sliema and you will smell it. And I hear this from many people. It has been normalised," Buttigieg told the House in 2023. In a subsequent PQ, the home affairs minister said that police had arrested just three people smoking cannabis in a public place in Valletta, between Octo- ber and January 2024. In the fol- lowing three months, 15 arrests were made in Rabat, Naxxar, Marsaskala, Marsa, Valletta, Pao- la and Żurrieq. Complaints related to cannabis smells have had relatively minor outings in the press. In 2020, the Strada Rjali website published a three-paragraph item claiming the smell of cannabis smoke had been detected – by anonymous members of the public – near an eatery on St Lucy Street in Naxx- ar. The allegation was linked to a "property lived in by foreign resi- dents" – the news angle betraying the often-xenophobic complaints about foreign workers being also responsible for antisocial behav- iour and law-breaking. In 2023, following the com- plaints of PN MPs in the House on the smell of cannabis smoke, Strada Rjali asked its readers whether they are bothered by the odours: "There's no control… cannabis smoking is taking place in open spaces, even when other people are nearby." The pungency of weed can be a natural by-product of smoking, but for those who do not find the smell gratifying, the chance of weaponising odours against unwelcome neighbours can be- come a litigious confrontation. Even at law, apartment dwellers will find that invasive odours can be contested on the basis of the European Convention's right to respect for a private and family life: a right defined not just in the context of a home's actual physi- cal area, but also to its quiet en- joyment within reasonable limits, from interferences that can in- clude smells or emissions. Odours have after all, also led police to arrest offenders smok- ing cannabis in public places – making the funk of weed the first sign of something illicit go- ing on. Last year, a 24-year-old was arrested smoking cannabis on Halloween night at the Salini Park. The court heard the arrest- ing officers say they had noticed the smell of cannabis during a patrol. The crime was aggravated by having taken place within 100 metres away from where "young people are normally gathered", but also because the offender was carrying 48g of cannabis divided in 14 packets. It's not a phenomenon solely re- served for those with sensitive ol- factory sense strolling around the village: in 2022, Australian tennis ace Nick Kyrgios complained that a spectator was smoking cannabis during his match at the US Open. Kyrgios suggested the chair umpire should warn the crowd inside the Louis Arm- strong Stadium in New York. The matter has been deemed serious enough in various cities that even Amsterdam has banned smoking cannabis in public on its red-light district, part of a set of policies to reduce nuisance for residents after increasingly des- perate complaints about prob- lems caused by tourists following the end of pandemic restrictions. Locals were forced to take mat- ters into their own hands with a 'Wallen watch' patrolling the streets to remind tourists of their manners, and campaign group 'Stop de Gekte' [stop the mad- ness] campaigned repeatedly for council action. Fuzzy about the law Part of the public confusion on the legalisation of recreation- al smoking is the fact that while cannabis associations have strict rules governing the dispensation Smell the funk of wacky-baccy in the air? No matter which side you're on, the etiquette of smoking cannabis in public, illegal though it may still be, may yet become a civic issue for Maltese