Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/472423
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION WEDNESDAY • 4 MARCH 2015 • ISSUE 405 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.00 Newspaper post EDITORIAL PAGE 10 CONTINUES PAGE 3 CONTINUES PAGE 2 No vote leads by 1 point in Labour- leaning south PAGE 5 'Traditional method of repression fails victims of drug abuse' MIRIAM DALLI GIOVANNI Bonello, former judge at the European Court of Human Rights, will be chairing the Drug Offenders Rehabili- tation Board, set up under the Drug Dependence (Treatment not Imprisonment) legislation that enjoys parliament's unani- mous support. The legislation will come into force on 15 April and provides for the appointment of a Drugs Commissioner who will receive individuals caught with two grams or less of drugs, and indi- viduals caught with 3.5 grams of cannabis or less. Justice Minister Owen Bonnici has appointed Vicki Scicluna as Drugs Commissioner. In the case of offenders ap- pearing before the Commis- sioner for the second time in two years, these will be referred to the board that includes Romina Baldwin, nominated by the Fam- ily Ministry, Mariella Camilleri who was nominated by the Home Affairs Ministry and Leonard Manicolo, who was appointed by the Health Ministry. Court official Dolores Sultana will be board secretary. Psychotherapist Mariella Di- mech was tasked with carrying follow-ups of the persons ap- pearing before the board. Autumn quail figures refute hunters' claim that spring is no alternative TIM DIACONO HUNTERS in Malta must be among the worst shooters in the world, miss- ing most of their targets, if figures about their quail hunting are anything to go by. For according to a costly study, hunt- ers bagged only seven per cent of the quail that flew over Malta last autumn – if the total they themselves provided is to be believed. The study was conducted by the government-commissioned envi- ronmental company Ecoserv. It cost €116,230. According to Ecoserv, a whopping 45,683 quail migrated over Malta last autumn, more than during the three- week spring hunting season earlier that year. The figure turns on its head the claim hunters make that autumn hunting is no alternative to spring. It was an argument presented at the Eu- ropean Court of Justice, to back their claim for a spring hunting derogation.