Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/970554
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 8 News E LSA (The European Law Students' Association) Malta forms part of the world's largest independent law student organisation run by and for students who are interested in achieving academic and personal excellence in addition to their legal studies in university. It is also first and foremost a Human Rights organisation, partnering with the Council of Europe in 2008. Ever since our founding in 1986, ELSA Malta has been a proactive organisation in both the academic and societal spheres, publishing a number of Social Policy Papers, the aim of which has always been to give a voice to law students by participating in national discussions on issues ranging from surrogacy to Malta's congestion problem. Most recently, ELSA Malta's Social and Legal Policy Committee, headed by Director for Social Policy and Legal Publications, Jake Camilleri, published a paper on the legalisation of recreational marijuana. ELSA Malta felt that this topic had been kept under public scrutiny for too long; which is why we sought to get the ball rolling and set the table for debate on the subject as well as offered our own practical solutions. During their research, the Social Policy team looked at jurisdictions which while distinct in nature, are at the forefront of legalisation for recreational use. So as to allow for an intelligent debate, the paper provides for a comparative analysis of legislation in jurisdictions such as California, Colorado and Portugal, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects to reach the conclusion as to what can be achieved through legalisation while also showing the possible risks associated with such legislation. While having only been released six months ago, ELSA Malta is glad that the proposals included at the end of the paper appear to be favoured by legislators in the discussion on the legalisation for personal use. Among these proposals one finds the organisation's commitment to having an informed public by proposing the setting of a campaign for the general public to understand both the positive and negative medical effects of marijuana and how to consume the drug properly if a person of legal age wishes to do so were cannabis to be legalised at a recreational level. The long-term effects of the drug should also be clearly explained, as legalising cannabis without pointing out the cognitive impairments that long-term use of the drug might lead to, could result in the impression that the drug can be used without any repercussions. For ease of access of the aforementioned information, a website wherein one could find all the information about the drug, like the one set in California, should be set up. Said website should provide for an objective explanation of both the health and legal consequences associated with the consumption of recreational marijuana. After analysing the success of its implementation in California, another proposal is that of establishing a "sharing economy by the government in the phase between the passing of the law and its implementation." This would allow a system wherein adults are free to share the drug with other adults, but not in exchange for money or goods. Such a system, which has already been a success in California prior to the opening of licensed dispensaries in January 2018, would limit minor trafficking arrests and give the police more time to focus on more pressing issues. Perhaps most pressingly, ELSA Malta's Social Policy team also encouraged that drug consumption should no longer be seen as a criminal issue, but rather a public health issue. In other words, the government should focus on adopting a strategy aimed at helping those who find themselves disadvantaged due to their active consumption of the drug rather than punishing them. Additionally, the team proposes that police conduct certificates of those who will have been found guilty before the passing of the law, are cleaned for the purpose of re- establishing those individuals as productive members of society. Ultimately, ELSA Malta hopes that the research and suggestions provided within the policy paper are taken into consideration in any debates which one may have on the topic. We earnestly hope that our message of proactivity has come across, for it is only when we all make a collective effort to bring about change that it can be achieved correctly. U niversities can affect the society they 'inhabit' in many ways. In Slovakia, university students were at the front of the crowd after the assassination of journalist Jan Kuciak, protesting against the influence of the 'Ndrangheta over the Slovak government. Elsewhere, universities act as fossilised shells – the universities of authoritarian countries are a veil of legitimacy for regimes which have none. The presence of an institution of higher education projects the image of inquiry, authenticity and learning, even where these things do not exist. It allows the Aliyevs of this world and their cronies to display their greatest trophy: the achievement of a relative truth, which answers to their beck and call. The ongoing campaign to break the University of Malta's spine acknowledges this reality. Such an institution can serve two roles in this country – to act as an arena for genuine discussion between students, or as an echo chamber for political party messaging communicated through proxies in the student population. The problem is not, primarily, students who act as willing salespersons for the political parties. They have as much right to do so as anyone else. The issue is that party messaging – subsidised financially, and by the promise of future reward for student propagandists – has a crowding out effect on genuine discourse. When that happens, discussion and inquiry are replaced by a game between a subset of students and their masters. Everyone else, or those students who cannot or will not participate in this game, must shut up and put up with it. Anyone outside a party mold must either be 'neutral' or face the consequences. Whenever attempts are made to repackage the University as another item in the authorities' toolbox – for instance, through comparison to the Sadeen Group's commercial experiment – these must be resisted. Failing to do so is to fail a generation of young people. Even worse, it risks pushing the University further into the margins of intelligent discourse in Malta. Students at the University are learning to censor themselves for fear of retribution. That fear must be fought wherever it rears its ugly head, not just at University. But at the highest institution for education in the country, it must be fought with even greater vigour. Manuel Zarb is a student at the University of Malta and a member of Awturi, an NGO working in favour of good governance. Legalising marijuana for recreational use The University effect Member organisations of the National Youth Council (KNZ) have been invited to submit opinion articles on topics affecting youths today, to its member organisations. The contents of the article do not necessarily refl ect the opinion of the Council. Jake Camilleri Manuel Zarb