The law decriminalising drug use, doing away with a vindictive system where one caught with a joint had to suffer for life but at the same time being tough with traffickers, was the next step forward, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said today.

Speaking during the annual general meeting of the Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti, the Labour Party’s youth arm, Dr Muscat encouraged forum members to be forward thinkers and come up with progressive ideas.

He said that changes which were not even spoken about in the past had been made in the past year-and-a-half but said more needed to be done when it came to civil rights.

Dr Muscat said gender identity legislation would place Malta on the forefront of the most progressive countries. This government, he said, had the courage to implement change in spite of the criticism it faced.

The Prime Minister accused the Opposition of trying to imitate Labour in the changes to its structures believing this was the key to success. Success, however, was not achieved by changing structures but by feeling what the people were feeling.

Dr Muscat appealed to forum members not to be conformists but to continue to sow ideas people might now be against but which could be the next step forward in future.