Legalization of cannabis in Malta – growing and using marijuana is finally legal

This is a historic moment. Malta is the first EU member state to legalize the cultivation of cannabis for personal use. What it will look like and what cannabis users can look forward to in the future. You can grow 4 plants at home. Outdoors you can carry up to seven grams and at home you can have up to 50 grams of dry cannabis stored. Fifty grams are not much, but the fact itself that you can legaly store cannabis will lead to facticaly unlimited amount of buds you can keep at home.

What does legalization of cannabis means?

An adult will be able to grow up to 4 marijuana plants with impunity and carry a maximum of 7 grams. Unfortunately, this will not be without some restrictions.

Smoking in public is still illegal, as is smoking marijuana in front of a minor. You can be punished for these offences. Possession of more than seven grams of marijuana can result in a fine of €100. Smoking in public is fined €235 and if you do so in front of a minor, the fine can be up to €500.

The vote itself was 36 to 27 in favour of legalization. According to Minister Owen Bonnici, this is a very significant step that will help people with medical conditions to legally obtain marijuana. Those who use cannabis recreationally will be able to obtain weed legally without fear of prosecution and fines. However, everything must be within the law.

The opposition, however, claims that this move will not be the beginning of the end of the black market in cannabis, but will strengthen it and give organised crime more means to get into the market ‘legally’ and thus ensure their own enrichment.

Bonnici, however, argues that the act of legalization will most benefit people who use marijuana solely as a medicine. Legally, that’s difficult enough, and no one cared that marijuana use was a matter of life and death for some. So it is good that this is going to change.

The legalization will be accompanied by the creation of institutions that will be responsible for the distribution of cannabis seeds and other cannabis products. In this way, the market will be regulated. However, the future customer will only be able to be listed in one such database.

How is the rest of the world doing through cannabis laws?

Like Malta, other member states have similar intentions. These include Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Here, a legal market is to be created in the future.

However, it did not just happen. You may recall an event last year when the United Nations recognised cannabis for its medicinal properties. That opened the eyes of many countries. The rest of the world is also looking at cannabis differently, but that would be a long story.

Did you know that cannabis is technically illegal in the Netherlands? It seems silly, but it really is. That’s why there are coffee shops all over the Netherlands where there is a high tolerance level. Italy will have a referendum on cannabis next year. South Africa, Mexico, Portugal, Jamaica and some of the US states have a similar situation to Malta.

Just for the record, the first country to fully legalise cannabis was Uruguay in 2013, followed by Canada in 2018.

So we can only hope that legalization of cannabis goes well in Malta and that the rest of Europe and the world will see the benefits of legalising cannabis 🙂