The police have reserved the right to question drug users found in simple possession, but this is aimed at helping investigators nail traffickers not users, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said.

Reacting to news reports that the drug reform would still allow police to arrest those found with even the smallest amounts of drugs, Dr Bonnici said the police had requested the possibility to question users.

This, the minister was quick to add, would only be done to try to establish the source of the drugs and would not see users charged the same way as they are under the current legal system.

The drug reform, expected to be signed into law in the coming weeks, was pitched as the widest ranging legislative review on narcotics the island has seen, and aims to effectively decriminalise simple drug use.

This will mean that while drug use is still illegal, it will not land users before a criminal court. Instead, users will first be given a warning, with repeat offenders given an administrative fine of not more than €125.

Asked if users would have to cooperate with police questioning, Dr Bonnici said investigators would only question users on the source of drugs and urged the public to cooperate with police inquiries.

Sources close to the reform, however, said that users brought in for questioning would not be obliged to reveal anything to the police and would be released after no longer than the maximum holding time – two days.

News that the police have asked to retain the ability to speak to users comes as no surprise, as Dr Bonnici alluded to its importance in an interview with Times of Malta last year.

Former police commissioner Ray Zammit also referred to its importance in a story in The Sunday Times of Malta last October, saying it would be a “death sentence” for the police’s counter-trafficking intelligence if investigators lost contact with users.

“This is our main stream of information. If we are going to keep up the fight on drug trafficking we cannot lose touch with the grassroots,” he had said, adding that questioning users would have to be different to the way it is carried out under current legislation.