The ADPD Green Party said Tuesday that Opposition Leader Bernard Grech and the PN’s “resurrection” of the “war on drugs” rhetoric is nothing but a cheap populist ploy.
In a statement, ADPD spokesperson said that the real issue with the theft of 200kg of cannabis resin from an Armed Forces of Malta military base is the possibility of insider collusion within the military.
“The issue of drug policy has nothing to do with what happened,” the ADPD said.
It was reacting to Grech’s statements that government has ignored the public’s concerns that 200kg of drugs are back on the streets, and that the PN will not concede to the fight against drugs.
ADPD Secretary General Dr Ralph Cassar said that back in 2010, and even before that, AD activists had called out the widely accepted practice of jailing drug users.
“Using drugs and getting caught was basically a guarantee of a prison sentence, such were the draconian laws PN and PL had fallen over themselves to enact,” Cassar said.
Cassar said that Nixon’s ‘war on drugs’ propaganda was still a thing in Malta.
“Six months minimum sentences tied the judiciary’s hands, countless lives were ruined. Some people ruined their lives because of heroin, that ruin was compounded by long prison sentences,” Cassar said.
He continued that the victims became the victimised, and others, who out of their own will and for their own particular reasons used or shared cannabis had their lives ruined, not by the substance itself but by the criminal justice system.
ADPD Chairperson Sandra Gauci said that the party will continue to insist on a humane drug policy, a policy which avoids moral panic and focuses on the social and the health aspects of drug use.
“We support state and other non-state organisations working in the field. Victims of hard drugs need medical and social help, not being dragged to court and paraded in the media,” Gauci said.
She said that any social and medical problems should be treated as such: as medical and social problems.
Gauci said that years of criminalisation of users has only perpetuated a cycle of pain and suffering.
“We need to make sure that we have strong social and community services which work to reduce the need for some people to turn to substance abuse,” Gauci said.
“God forbid Grech and the Nationalist Party take us back in time. ‘War on drugs’ rhetoric may be popular with some, but it is a dangerous bandwagon which will end up creating more pain, more
suffering, more death in the streets and a wasting of money in punitive systems which serve nobody’s interests,” Gauci said.
She said that the real issue is the state of the Armed Forces of Malta and their ability to perform simple security duties.
“It is crystal clear that Prime Minister Robert Abela should have accepted Minister Byron Camilleri’s resignation. The serious breach of security of an AFM base is very serious in and of itself. Camilleri must shoulder political responsibility for this security breach,” Gauci said.