Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1525500
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 AUGUST 2024 5 INTERVIEW The following are excerpts from the interview. The full interview can be found on maltatoday.com.mt as well as our Facebook and Spotify pages. PHOTOS: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTA TODAY Cannabis associations are seeing a lot of people register with them and are slowly reaching maximum capacity set by the law. Do you feel it is time the 500-member limit is in- creased? ARUC is always assessing whether the capping on members can be expanded, and the law allows for this if a legal notice is published. But we must also keep in mind that the number of licenced associations will grow, and the demand will be addressed through this increase. The ARUC website states that smoking cannabis has its obvious side-effects due to the inhalation of smoke. But the law does not allow associations to sell edible cannabis. Do you feel edible cannabis products should be made available to those who do not want to smoke? I do feel that it is a bit premature to start discussing edibles right now, as it is a food, and you have different regulations, even at European level which regulate food products. Edibles are considered as novel food at a European legislative level. Before an edible is put on the market, it needs European Commission authorisation after consultation with the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority). It's not an easy process. If there are considerations to make edibles available, it must be preceded by a rigorous educational campaign, as it does not mean that if you are not smoking, there are no side effects to cannabis. It is a scientific fact that edibles, unlike cannabis smoke, leads to effects being felt after a longer time. We must educate before we roll it out. Is it time Malta commer- cialises cannabis? There are international and European laws which must be taken into consideration, and that is why the authority is comfortable with the non- profit model being used today. This reform is not intended to benefit the few, but the focus is the citizen. At this stage we have no intention to move away from the non-profit model towards commercialisation. I insist the main objective of this reform is harm reduction. Should onsite consumption at cannabis associations be legalised? We have discussed the possibility of onsite consumption at cannabis associations. Obviously, these types of discussions demand an in-depth analysis, and it is not something which can be introduced haphazardly. Several stakeholders have voiced their agreement with onsite consumption because it could give a safe space for cannabis consumption. When you use cannabis at a private space, […] and you find yourself needing medical assistance, you could create more alarm and panic. If the cannabis is consumed in a safe space, you would have people who would know how to assist you. As I said there are a number of considerations, but the authority is analysing and studying the possibility of onsite consumption. If we see the need to propose any amendments, we would be at the fore front of these changes. Do you smoke cannabis? I play football and so the rules bar me from consuming cannabis, as it is one of the banned substances. But I know people, some of them my friends, who consume cannabis, and it is for this reason the reform was carried out. Not because everyone uses cannabis, not because we want to promote its use, but because we cannot ignore the reality surrounding it. We can no longer allow these people to resort to the black market and all the dangers associated with it at a health and legal level.