Tag: cannabis

Categories
Drugs

Wearing Midnight

I’m supposed to have thrown the political switch for J’accuse and settled down for a little sabbatical. At most you were supposed to have heard from us with a little travel blogging – and for that purpose I have purchased a nifty little app called “Path” to chronicle our journey when we Go West. Instead, as I sit at the mac trying to put some order to my iTunes playlists and fill the ipods/ipads/iphones with enough music to kill any sense of tediousness during our flights/drives the mind wanders and there you go… I stumble on a Times article that provokes a reaction.

There they sat in the photo – Dr Michael Falzon (PL Home Affairs) and Joe Mizzi (PL Whip) under a billboard with the word “għaqal” splattered across. The article’s title “From Midnight Express, to Corradino Express – PL demands action in prisons” and it was all about how the government is getting the whole Correctional Facility business wrong although the two seem to have stopped short of calling for someone’s head (Tonio Borg’s in this case). Now those who have Labour to heart will once again call this site a PN sympathiser or what have you but yes, I still see something wrong with this picture and let me tell you what that is.

I see two Labour spokespersons capitalising on a court case (the Bickle Prison Queen) and trying to get political mileage on the strength of the “blame the government” idea. What’s wrong with that? Nothing, I agree, on the face of it. The thing is that the “demands for action” are once again rather futile pie in the sky demands. “Hemm bzonn naghmlu xi haga”. Sure we can crack jokes about Midnight Express and the obscene levels of permissiveness at Corradino but the problem – I am sure you will agree – probably does not lie with government. I am also prepared to bet that left to their own devices wardens and prisoners will still be up to no good if Michael Falzon were in Tonio Borg’s shoes.

Then there’s another thing. Our prisons are crowded with all types of offenders. Among them are people who have been sent to jail for cannabis related offences. I wonder whether Michael Falzon and Joe Mizzi joined the dots on that one. Did they have anything to say about the possible effects of decriminalisation of softer drugs?

It’s not just Labour politicians who will shy away from tackling this particular bull by the horns. Sure, every politician will nibble at some facile arguments – and condemning the state of affairs at Corradino is facile… who would not agree after all? My question is what are Labour’s policies on correction, drugs, rehabilitation, decriminalisation and similar issues that have an incidence on the current state of affairs.

Don’t hold your breath if you are waiting for an answer. They’re too busy condemning anything linkable to “il-gvern” to even bother about what they would do to solve the problem. It’s Midnight Express… another word for darkness falling at the speed of light.

In un paese pieno di coglioni, ci mancano le palle.

P.S. Even Franco Debono MP seems to have more ideas (agree with him or not) than the whole party in opposition (see here)

Categories
Politics

The Legal Dope

Saturday’s protest called “Cannabis Reform Demonstration” has sparked off a few interesting discussions on the ether. The Times finds itself at the end of many an accusing finger for what seems to be a deliberate attempt to put cannabis in a bad light through “slanted” reporting and not so hidden innuendos. It’s not that reports on the harmful effects of drugs suddenly surface as the demo-day draws closer – it’s the deliberate attempt at confusion, putting cannabis on the same scale as the real killer drugs. I am not here though to go into the scientific evidence of the effects of drugs or to discuss the salutary effects of a good high or, for that matter, the negative consequences of control-freak prohibition.

Another interesting aspect has surfaced in this sudden revival of the Dope Discussion. MaltaToday carried a feature about the fact that “lurking behind next Saturday’s planned march in Valletta is a far wider-reaching challenge, which aims to end the absolute discretion enjoyed by the office of the Attorney General on decisions which would radically affect the possible sentences for certain crimes – drug-related offences being but one example.” Now I may be physically cut off from the Maltese scene but I have still to find a reference elsewhere to this aspect of the demo.

Is the demo or is it not a challenge to “the absolute discretion enjoyed by the AG’s office”? MT has quotes from two lawyers specialising in criminal defence – Joseph Giglio and Franco Debono. We do find a frank “admission” if you like halfway through the article that:

Independently of Saturday’s protest, lawyers like Giglio and Debono openly question the sheer breadth of the Attorney General’s discretion to choose between different courts (with all the serious implications for sentencing), in the light of a number of anomalous and often inconsistent decisions: including, but not limited to, the case of Daniel Holmes, whose 11-year sentence exceeded the very maximum he would otherwise have faced, had his case been heard before the Magistrates’ Court.

Well yes. The thing is that the aim of such a demo is probably best served if the demonstrators were to concentrate on the punishment – the severity of punishments determined by law for the crime of possession of cannabis and similar crimes. Even if it is not all out legalisation the problem here is more that a Welshman is in prison for 10 years for possessing what many would agree to be a harmless drug (though not the experts consulted by the Times). That is where the focus should be.

Whether politicians who in their spare time act as criminal lawyers (or should it be vice-versa) should be diverting the focus of the protest in connivance with a newspaper is questionable. I have no doubt that there could be an occasion to discuss the merits and demerits of the set-up for criminal prosecution and the very specific powers of the Attorney General but this is definitely not the time to be confusing issues. Taking advantage of public sentiment (even if a minority) with regards to the issue of penalties for cannabis-related crimes in order to rough through an amendment to an important part of our criminal procedure is just not done.

And one last note, one that we have often repeated from this blog. It is hard enough to be living in a country where human resources are not that easy to come by and therefore where specialisation in a field means you stand there with a few other good men or women. What we do not need is the two-hat politician who reforms the laws with one hand and benefits from them in his professional capacity with another. Good intentions or not is beside the point.

Like justice, law making must also be performed in a transparent manner.