Drug abuse affects too many lives – addicts, their loved ones, the victims of drug-related crime – to be ignored. Our drug policy has evidently failed many, and we need to seriously look into alternatives if we are to address this.

But two stories surfaced recently have brought the issue to the fore and have shocked many. Last month, Daniel Holmes was jailed for 10 years and six months for growing cannabis plants in his Għajnsielem home, while last week, Josette Bickle was jailed for 12 years for trafficking heroin while in prison. Both were fined €23,000 and had their assets confiscated by the State for good measure.

Public sentiment appears to be that Mr Holmes’ sentence should not have been so similar to that of Ms Bickle, given the circumstances of each case. Such a sentiment was clearly not felt at the Attorney General’s office, which sought life imprisonment in both cases. But public sentiment towards Bickle’s case was very different and the judge who passed sentence also remarked that she alone should not shoulder the whole blame for shortcomings within the prison system.

The two cases expose a lot of shortcomings in Malta’s ageing drug law and its drug policy. Firstly, all illegal drugs are placed on the same footing, despite clear differences in the harm they cause. Heroin is the cause for practically every drug overdose in Malta, and many people arraigned over petty thefts and prostitution acknowledge the need to fund a heroin addiction in court. But the need to review Malta’s drug policy goes beyond a lack of drug classification. It provides two tools in the fight to reduce drug use and addiction: Prison and treatment. The Bickle case indicates that prison’s effectiveness is dubious, at best.

Drug treatment is a somewhat different story: Success stories arising from Sedqa’s and Caritas’ rehabilitation programmes abound. But it is also a global reality that a sizeable proportion of those attending treatment programmes do not succeed in definitely kicking their drug habit – heroin is the main culprit – either failing mid-way or relapsing later on.

Of course, there is no silver bullet solution to drug abuse, but other countries are ahead of us as far as implementing a policy going beyond “drugs are bad” goes, and it would be appropriate to analyse their measures closely, at the very least.

Portugal, for instance, decriminalised possession and use of every drug – including heroin and cocaine – 10 years ago, while retaining trafficking as a criminal offence. Simple possession is considered to be an administrative violation, and instead of facing a possible jail term and a stained criminal record, people face a commission which can refer them to treatment or impose sanctions, including fines and community services.

The critics’ reaction was that the measure would lead drug use to explode, and Portugal would become a ‘drug tourism’ destination. Ten years on, neither scenario has occurred: Drug use remained stable and declined among adolescents, the number of drug-related deaths decreased and practically every political party now supports the policy.

Switzerland, on the other hand, paved the way for a controversial – but apparently effective – way to address chronic heroin addiction: Prescription.

Instead of obtaining drugs of dubious quality from dubious individuals with money obtained through dubious means, heroin addicts, who have tried and failed to kick their habit, now visit a clinic for daily, supervised injections – eliminating the risk of disease and overdose. Many maintain regular employment, treating their heroin injections as routine.

The number of new heroin addicts has actually fallen in Switzerland since the measure was introduced in 1998, a trend perhaps helped by the unglamorous image of ageing addicts queuing at a clinic. People’s perception provides another indicator of success: In 2008, the Swiss overwhelmingly approved retaining the policy beyond its initial 10-year trial period, even as they voted down decriminalising cannabis use on the same day.

Of course, Switzerland’s programme would be a non-starter in Malta, and both the Nationalist Party and the Labour Party have expressed their opposition to decriminalising drugs in recent days. It is not hard to suspect that both fear the consequences of doing otherwise: Being portrayed as the “pro-drugs” party by the other in a populist electoral campaign.

But there is little indication that Malta’s main parties have the will to do so. Whatever the case may be, we still see heroin addicts being locked up in a place where their addiction seems to continue, or even worse, start. At the same time, people who have grown cannabis plants are getting the same jail terms. Is this a fair and balanced implementation of the law? Yes, on paper. No, if we were to truly examine the real issue.