Dr Gulia yesterday wrote to Helen d’Amato, who is still the chairman of the parliamentary committee for social affairs, asking her to call a meeting of the committee to discuss this issue.

Dr Gulia said he hopes, through this initiative, that consensus can be reached so that the laws are changed in such a way as to better reflect the realities of today’s situation.

In his opinion, Maltese society has learnt to distinguish between drug traffickers and drug victims. The victims, Dr Gulia said, should not be treated the same as drug traffickers even though both are serious crimes and those who commit them must be held responsible for their actions and should be punished proportionately to their faults.

Dr Gulia said he feels that while drug importers and traffickers should pay a higher price, drug victims on the other hand must be provided with every opportunity to rehabilitate themselves and to re-integrate themselves in society.

Thus the drug laws must reflect this distinction between drug trafficker and drug victim not just in the evaluation of a crime but also in the penalty linked to it. It is also important, he said, that what applies to drug traffickers is not attributed to drug victims as well.

This does not mean, he insisted, that the war against drugs will be in any way weakened: on the contrary, it will be made stronger.