Delays in sentences handed down by the law courts, and the lack of space for women who wanted to follow drug rehabilitation programmes, were two of the complaints raised by residents of the Caritas home at San Blas when they met Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday.

The MLP leader visited San Blas as part of the activities marking Worker’s Day.

He was welcomed by Caritas director Mgr Victor Grech, who said that from studies that have been carried out, 82 per cent of the people who take part in the rehabilitation programme do not fall victim to drug abuse again.

Caritas also offered an outpatients service in the community and last year, over 5,000 appointments were made. Last year, 23 prisoners who were sentenced to less than two-and-a-half-years in jail on drug-related cases also took part in a special programme drawn up by Caritas.

In a short address, Dr Sant praised the work being carried out by Caritas, and said that the programmes it offered were of great help to people who wanted to get rid of the drug problem.

He said it was not right that court sentencing took longer than necessary, and that all efforts should be made to speed up the legal process as much as possible. He added that the MLP supported all the initiatives that could be taken to curb the problem of space.