A man campaigning to legalise cannabis yesterday took his case to the Constitutional Court, arguing that Malta’s failure to distinguish between personal use and trafficking is discriminatory.

David Caruana, 30, who in December 2011 held a demonstration as part of his campaign to legalise the drug, has been charged with drug offences after allegedly growing a cannabis plant on a balcony at his home.

In a Constitutional application yesterday, Mr Caruana, who works with an online business and studies social sciences at the Open University, is claiming a breach of human rights.

He began publicly campaigning for the legalisation of cannabis about four years ago when he set up the Facebook group Legalise It Malta.

Josè Herrera, who is representing Mr Caruana, said Maltese law did not distinguish between cultivation for trafficking purposes and doing so for personal use.

In fact, the law laid down that “the word ‘dealing’ includes cultivation”.

Dr Herrera quoted from the ratified United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988, which, he noted, did make a distinction.

This said: “Subject to its constitutional principles and the basic concept of its legal system, each party shall adopt such measures as may be necessary to establish as a criminal offence under domestic law, the possession, purchase or cultivation of narcotic drugs for personal consumption.”

He said once Malta ratified the convention it should become an integral part of the law and make the necessary changes, which the legislator had failed to do.

Dr Herrera pointed out that the discrimination also affected punishment because no distinction was made in relation to how many plants were in a defendant’s possession.

In this case, he noted, his client was facing a maximum of 10 years in jail.