Decriminalise not legalise
With reference to the article entitled ‘Legalise drugs for personal use – AD’ (The Sunday Times, October 28) I would like to clarify that the policy of Alternattiva Demokratika is for the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use, not legalisation.
Legalisation has to do with selling drugs in the market. This is not our stand. Decriminalisation means that consuming and possessing drugs for personal use will not remain a crime. This position is also shared by Malta’s national drug agency, Sedqa.
Legislation on alcohol and other drugs should be reformed so that people who are victims of drugs can be helped. This is why decriminalisation of drugs for personal use should be introduced.
Education remains a key tool for policies on drugs. People should be conscious of their various effects and know where to search for help if they think they have a problem.
But criminalising people for making use of drugs has been a failure not only in terms of social policy but, even more so, with respect to those whose criminalisation has resulted in a spiral of hardship.
We also ask for a sharp distinction between soft and hard drugs. Not considering the huge difference between say heroin and cannabis when it comes to sentencing drug traffickers, is just a motive for the latter to invest in more deadly drugs – where the big money is.
Another important point is correcting the anomaly that cultivating for personal use is considered a separate crime from ‘simple possession’ and punished with sentences equivalent to drug trafficking.
AD’s policy is based mostly on Portugal’s highly success-ful model of decriminalisa-tion, which has been in place since 2001.
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Gerry Cowie
Nov 5th 2012, 19:22
Sady people are not necessarily conscious about the effects of drugs nor where to seek help. In many cases once they are hooked they believe they do not want help!
If drugs are needed for a good reason then they should be prescribed and controlled through pharmacies, in particular those at hospitals.
Do we want drugs at all? What are we doing to prevent their use?
Education?
Michael Grech
Nov 5th 2012, 07:38
Would decriminalisation also mean that one will not be prosecuted if he imports/sells drugs? In that case, the policy will be nearly as bad as the current one. The crime related to drugs, much of it stemming from the fact that these cannot be legally purchased, their prices (related to the former) and so on, will remain. I hope AD is not taking this middle-of-the-road approach not to scare voters
Karl Consiglio
Nov 4th 2012, 19:05
It should be legalised, otherwise we won't know where our kids are buying it from, and that is where they might be offered the heavier stuff. Besides even the cannabis itself might not be clean if there is no legal system to see to quality.
P. Vincenti
Nov 4th 2012, 14:06
Insanity. The AD are not in touch with reality. How is the person, who posses drugs for personal use suppose to get the drugs in the first place?
So the AD feel it is illegal to cultivate, store or sell drugs. But the guy who manages to get their drugs by buying it from those who break the law is untouchable? What a farce.
Robert Callus
Nov 4th 2012, 17:57
We're saying cultivation for personal use should NOT be a crime, not the other way round.
If I sell you drugs, I break the law. You don't. What's the big deal? From where is this obsession with punishing people coming from?
Raymond Bezzina
Nov 5th 2012, 13:26
@ Robert Callus
Regarding your first sentence:
To cultivate drugs one has to buy seeds.
Since for every buyer there has to be a seller, what do you want to decriminalise exactly ?
Illicit drugs are illicit because besides harming the person who takes them, under their influence one would behave in an uncontrollable mannar, thus becoming a danger to society.
Please choose the reason of your report below: