The Malta Employer’s Association hit out at the legalisation of recreational cannabis in Malta, requesting the bill be postponed until after a general election. The legalisation would allow the dispensation of up to 50g of cannabis monthly to individuals, as well as permission to grow four plants at home. 

The position was issued Sunday, just two days after the PN announced it’s own position against the Bill as it claimed it would enable drug use. Director-general Joe Farrugia stated that the bill falls short of addressing numerous issues connected to cannabis consumption. It gives no assurances to employers about the effect consumption will have on the workplace. 

‘The MEA will subsist on having the option of zero-tolerance policies at the workplace in the Bill, and the right to conduct random dope testing in the interest of their employees and their clients, and also to protect themselves from any liability.’ ‘Like the White Paper issued some months ago, the Cannabis Reform Bill is fraught with omissions, inconsistencies and hidden motives.’ 

The law, said Farrugia, should be aiming at consensus on decriminalisation without promoting consumption. Despite agreeing that cannabis should be decriminalised and that persons carrying minimal amounts for personal consumption should not be liable to criminal proceedings, the MEA accused the government of pushing ahead with the Bill before the elections ‘at all costs for reasons which may be unstated but which are known to all.’ 

#MaltaDaily