Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1523590
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 JULY 2024 NEWS cannabis products sold in stores extracts HHC makes it hard to get a consistent amount, even in the same batch. Caritas: heroin problem users fall In 2023, Caritas registered 808 clients seeking drug treat- ment or counselling, with 257 being admitted to their resi- dential programme. Data presented by Caritas shows a decade-long decrease in problem users reporting heroin addiction, which in 2012 represented 58% of all its clients. Over the decade, that rate fell to 17% of total clients – a decline of 70%. On the contrary, cocaine us- ers reporting to Caritas more than doubled (124%), when in 2012 these represented 25% of clients, growing to 56% last year. Cannabis users reporting to Caritas for its services, on av- erage grew by 4.65%. Gatt has complained that a lack of law enforcement on cannabis smoking was leading to abusive smoking in pub- lic places or next to children. "Teachers are asking us wheth- er cannabis is still dangerous – it's a walkover when they face students. What can they do when students say, 'isn't it not legal now? My father smokes, he grows plants.'" Malta partially decriminal- ised the recreational smok- ing and growing of cannabis in 2021. Non-profit associa- tions can register up to 500 members, to dispense to 7g of cannabis daily, capped at 50g per month. The use can- nabis in public is not permis- sible. Individuals can grow up to four plants of cannabis in their home and have up to 50g of dried produce in their residence at any given point. Such plants cannot be visible to third persons. "I have never taken drugs in my life... but I must admit that since December 2019 I have started encountering it when I go for a run on Għar id-Dud, at the beach... it's becoming more frequent that marijuana smoke gets into my nose," Gatt said in his address to the Caritas cer- emony. Gatt complained that while the regulation of cannabis clubs had been carried out "se- riously" by the Authority for the Responsible Use of Can- nabis, the agency's campaign to inform the public about the law and where cannabis can be consumed does not include a warning to keep away from the substance. "We know what happened with cigarettes, and unfor- tunately, we will go through the same cycle with cannabis. What cancer is to tobacco will be mental health problems for cannabis," Gatt said. YEAR CANNABIS COCAINE HEROIN 2012 14% 25% 58% 2013 14% 27% 55% 2014 16% 30% 51% 2015 15% 27% 53% 2016 19% 30% 44% 2017 20% 30% 43% 2018 23% 41% 31% 2019 24% 41% 30% 2020 20% 45% 31% 2021 21% 44% 24% 2022 17% 50% 21% 2023 21% 56% 17% Percentage of primary drug cases that request Caritas assistance on substance addiction (% of total Caritas clients) Caritas Director Anthony Gatt "A colleague bought them and sent them to the laboratory, and surprise, surprise, there were traces of MDMA (Ecstasy), Ketamine, and Amphetamine. This is a moment where we are truly seeing darkness."