Cannabis legalisation in Malta will allow regulated associations and home growing of plants

By Laura Calleja / Malta Today

Under proposed cannabis legalisation, non-profit associations can grow cannabis to distribute among their members, Equality Minister Owen Bonnici said.

The minister also said that people would be allowed to grow up to four cannabis plants at one residence.

Bonnici made the announcement on Wednesday morning during a press conference. He insisted that the reforms were not to "incentivise cannabis culture or cannabis consumption" but to reduce the harm of drug rings.

"We want to reduce the suffering, humiliation and deprivation of other rights that many cannabis users have experienced when they have been subjected to arrest and judicial proceedings on possession of small amounts," Bonnici said.

The regulation of cannabis clubs plugs a gap in the original proposal floated by the government earlier this year.