Many are those professionals and personalities who have spoken for or against the legalisation of cannabis. I am proud to have been working with addicts for the past 40 years.

I was one of the first three police members to join the then new team within the vice squad against the abuse of illicit substances. I was also among the first who, in 1985, together with Mgr. Victor Grech, joined the rehabilitation centre for those abusing drugs, a service I still give today.

As a member of the police corps, I always felt that, apart from enforcement and a judicial system to combat drug abuse, youth education on the subject and a rehab centre for those who ended up abusing such chemicals, was badly needed.

Both as a member of the police corps and also as an employee with Caritas, the professional members undertook the necessary training on drug abuse abroad.

When employed with Caritas, I undertook further training on the subject at the CeIS centre in Rome and at the rehabilitation centre of Colemine in Ireland for three whole months. The latter aimed to rehabilitate youths abusing drugs and alcohol and gambling.

As in other countries, it is a well-known fact that families with members abusing such substances pass through a lot of turmoil. Such abuse also leads to an increase in criminality.

For this reason, the victims are given the necessary help by different agencies.

 The same applies to overcoming cigarette smoking abuse.

A fact I still cannot understand is that while government agencies, Church institutions and voluntary groups have been working hard to overcome such abuses, the State will now legalise the use of another addictive and dangerous substance.

During my past 40 years of experience dealing with drug addicts, I have heard countless sad experiences from the addicts themselves, recounting how they ended up in such a mess.

The vast majority of those abusing hard drugs started from cannabis, even though they were convinced that they were in total control of their situation

The larger percentage of victims explain how they ended up abusing harder drugs after they started on cannabis.

I also noted over time that usually women started straight away on hard drugs and not cannabis, as they were introduced to such abuse by their partners, who were already past the cannabis stage and abusing hard drugs.

I am not stating that whoever smoked cannabis ended up on hard drugs, but the vast majority of those abusing hard drugs started from cannabis, even though they were convinced that they were in total control of their situation and would never use harsher drugs. Abusing cannabis did not give them control over the addiction to hard drugs, an addiction that leads to criminality, mental illness and death.

To make matters worse, nowadays the selection of drugs has increased drastically with the introduction of synthetic drugs.

I will not delve into the physical and psychological effects of drugs, as there are professionals more qualified than myself on these subjects. But I do know I have met several responsible and mature youths, who for some reason or other ended up caught in the drug trap.

These youths became criminals with severe, permanent mental issues, not capable of employing themselves, and in the process broke up their families. Some of them even died at a tender age.

Legalising cannabis with the excuse that it can have beneficial therapeutic effects on patients with certain illnesses does not make logical sense.

If it is so, then it is the duty of scientists to extract the beneficial chemicals in cannabis and produce a legal drug which can be used by prescription.

Looking at the issue from another perspective, there are certain medicines, like antidepressants, sleeping pills, etc, which are legal, but then their abuse is illegal and for this reason they are controlled by medical professionals.

The fact that cannabis can be considered a recreational drug is not a good enough reason to legalise it. There are already other substances considered recreational and known to be addictive, like tobacco and alcohol. So, why add to the list?

When tobacco products were legalised, little was known of the adverse effects of this product on human health. But now it is being imposed on producers to place a warning on the ill effects of tobacco.

The local government was avant garde in the war against tobacco when it became illegal to consume it in confined spaces, restaurants and recreational premises and public entities. To reduce the consumption of tobacco products, on a yearly basis, in every budget, the government increases substantially the tax on them. But the consumption of tobacco has not decreased, due to the addictive effects of nicotine, the ‘cool’ factor for youths and the black market for cheaper versions.

So, on the same note, is the legalisation of cannabis an excuse by the government to impose yet another tax while our youths spiral down to destruction?

Joe Gatt campaigns to see youths free from drug addiction.