1 comment.Malta is first country in Europe to legalise recreational use of cannabis
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The Bill on the responsible use of cannabis was approved in Parliament late this afternoon, making Malta the first country in Europe to legalise the recreational use of cannabis, with the law now requiring the signature of the President as the final step.
The Bill passed with 36 votes in favour and 27 against. The Opposition voted against the Bill.
This law will allow anyone over the age 18 to cultivate up to 4 plants at home and carry up to seven grams of cannabis for personal use.
However, if a person is caught with between 8 and 28 grams, it would mean appearing before a tribunal.
If I speak of myself a retired person of 65 living on my own who cannot relax with some alcoholic sips to pass the day and vent the feeling of loneliness, because of my blood sugar level, this law might be of consolance for me. Apart from that, I hope that the Customs will not hold my CBD extract which I use as pain killer. Since I have been buying it on line because the Big Pharma in Malta might have managed to take them down from the shelves, I lost hundreds of Euros because the Customs would not release them stating that they might contain THC. Hope that this will change and we see CBD back on the Pharmacist shelves.
My concern are the ‘Safety Sensitive Positions’ like Pilots, Truck drivers, Boat Captains and School Bus Drivers. Some include, machine operators, construction workers all bus drivers, any private car under the influence, and more.
New insurance policies will have to be written and added with testing for pot influence just like alcohol level in blood after an accident. We might need to invent portable and efficient testers like we have of temperature monitors to test if you are under the influence of Marijuana. When? Before you enter the work place especially of it deals with machinery or people. The manager of a factory will have the power to send the person home without pay. Can he do this? If it is an agreement between the employer and the employee it should work but I am not a lawyer. In Massachusetts where there are No Smoking Signs no one can smoke weed.
Alcohol is legal but being drunk in public or at work is illegal. Marijuana is legal but as one cannot drive a bus or a car or work on a machine, in a drunken state, so should it be in this case of marijuana usage? I don’t know!
I trust the Maltese people in general, and I am confident that the few or lot of people who will be using marihuana will use it as a medical aid and to relax in the evening or after work or in the weekend. We are a sober, responsible people. Let us be diligent in such usage of Marijuana. Remember that we are the first EU country to legalise this substance and therefore the whole of the EU have their eyes on us now.
When I was 12 I tried a cigarette. I got hooked and must have spent the cost of a house in smoke! I lost a lot of sleep due to my lungs trying to recuperate. I am not sure if I will try Marijuana, but who knows I might be silly.