An interesting speech was made in parliament on Monday night as Justice Minister Owen Bonnici spoke of the problems that former drug users are facing in terms of being imprisoned for past misdemeanours.

Dr Bonnici cited one such case where a man had been in litigation in the magistrates court for nearly nine years. He was eventually found guilty of being in possession of one gram of cocaine. He was jailed for six months because he had committed the crime under the operating period of a suspended prison term and a conditional discharge.

Nine years later, the man has a family and has changed his ways, yet he will still be spending six months behind bars. Dr Bonnici questioned whether this was right, and whether it benefited society in any form or manner. We have to agree.

Bearing in mind that a law will be coming into effect to change the way our legal system deals with first time drug users, does it benefit anyone whatsoever to send a person such as the one mentioned above to prison?

First of all, the person is rehabilitated, employed, settled with a family and generally making a contribution to society in general. Secondly, it is a burden on the taxpayer. This man (and many others like him)was found guilty of making a mistake and putting a substance in his own body. There is no justice to be made with society. The government has cracked down on drug smuggling in prison, but it is obvious (just like it is anywhere else in the world) that drugs still make it into our prison system. What place is the most obvious for a reformed addict to relapse?  The answer is simple – a contained and boring environment where drugs are available and can be an escape – in other words... prison itself.

We hope this man can get through his term and be released from prison as clean as he is now, but it is obvious that something needs to be done to remedy this situation. This media house fully concurs with the thesis that dealers should be hit and hit hard by the authorities... but, we ask the question again... do we really need to send reformed drug users to prison for a few months nearly ten years after they last committed a crime?

The government should take the opportunity to continue to reform the law and eradicate this situation once and for all. By all means, checks and balances should be in place. There is a difference between people who deal on our streets or pull the kingpin deals and the simple user. There is also a difference between a person who has mugged and stolen and a casual user. But one thing is certain, someone who took drugs for a short period of their lives and has changed their ways should not be sent to prison, not even for a day. There are other options and one the first that springs to mind is community service. Restorative justice will remain a concept unless we actually put it into practice.