The drug reform being proposed by the government is a means of giving more options for the court to deal with cases as they deem fit, Prime Minister Robert Abela said as he criticised the Nationalist Party’s attempts of spinning the reform.

Speaking to a group of journalists regarding the government’s white paper on drug reforms published last week by the Ministry for Justice, Abela was asked if discussions were held with Caritas before the white paper was published.

“100%,” replied the Prime Minister. He continued that he would like to address the ongoing “misinformation campaign” being raised regarding the proposals. He said that regarding Caritas, the government has already spoken with the organisation and will continue to do so.

He acknowledged the “enormous work” that Caritas does and spoke about his experience visiting Caritas facilities to speak with people who have been victims of drug addiction. He said that discussions with Caritas are an ongoing process.

The penalty for drug trafficking will still be life in prison, Abela said. “Life in prison means that you enter on your feet and you leave in a coffin,” he remarked. He continued that the impression that life in prison is actually 25 years is incorrect and, that under Maltese law, a life sentence is for life. He added that at the discretion of the Courts, the penalty for drug traffickers was and remains reserved as life in prison.

Speaking about the proposed reform, the Prime Minister said that publishing a white paper means that the government has gone to the public to engage in a discussion and that the people have an opportunity to tell the government what it thinks and wants while that document is out.

Abela said that if someone is in possession of 300 tablets of ecstasy, which he added is a benchmark that has been in use for many years in our country, that scale means that the Court has the ability to either hear the case as a judiciary court or as a drug court.

The Prime Minister said that he “senses that the Nationalist Party is very much involved in this incorrect impression”. He continued that whoever is trying to say that the government is trying to implement a policy where someone with 500 tablets of ecstasy would not be taken to court is ludicrous. “Are these serious arguments?”

He said that through the reform, if someone who had possession of certain drugs in their youth appeared in front of the court and they are now, for example, in their thirties with a family and have gone through a rehabilitation program, then the court can decide to hear the case as a drug court to therefore have more flexibility in how the magistrate can deal with the accused. “That is the Court’s choice,” he said, “What we are asking in this reform is should the court’s hands be tied? Or should we trust the Magistrate to treat the accused in front of them how they deem fit?”

Abela said that the government will consider all the circumstances according to what the experts and the public say to then “move to the best decision”. He concluded that, however, the submission which will be made by Caritas within this process will be given significance as “they are the experts and they know what they are seeing”. He added that the government will not make any reforms which are against what society wants.