The Malta Authority for Responsible Cannabis Use (CURA) has updated its regulatory framework for cannabis for adult use following widespread criticism from various stakeholders.
At a press conference in mid-May, Rebecca Buttigieg, Malta’s Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms, and Leonid McKay, Director of CURA, presented the new “tweaked” set of rules, aimed at addressing a number of questions as part of an ongoing “stakeholder consultation process”.
The two also revealed that 7 cannabis association applications have been filed and 11 association names have been reserved, suggesting that more applications are pending.
While stakeholders praised CURA for remaining flexible and taking feedback on some issues into account, they say many “grassroots community members and traditional cultivators feel it is next to impossible” to create associations.
“Refined” regulations
Following the Thursday May 18 press conference, the CURA released its updated regulatory framework on May 23.
In April, we reported that many local actors were complaining that the CURA had “shot itself in the foot” and that the “barriers to entry were too high”.
One of the main concerns of future owners of the Cannabis Harm Reduction Association (CHRA) was the format of the application procedure, which stipulated that all documents should be submitted together with the application. Candidates had to ensure that they had the right to inspect the chosen property for the duration of the application procedure in order to be able to provide the necessary documents.
CURA has now amended this requirement “to allow prospective associations to take a modular approach throughout the application process”.
Also, the transport of cannabis between the place of cultivation and the place of sale was previously authorized only to people with ADR certification, the same license as that required for the transport of toxic, radioactive and explosive substances. This had led Andrew Bonello, president of ReLeaf Malta, to state that the CURA treats cannabis “like plutonium”.
The newly amended rules will allow the CURA to issue its own certifications, “which meet all the criteria required to ensure that cannabis is transported safely”.
These include ensuring that transport only takes place at night, that cannabis is only moved in sealed containers inside a safe, and that the vehicle is at temperature controlled, closed and monitored.
Next comes waste management. Initially, the CURA stipulated that the waste must be incinerated in an approved landfill, which met with strong opposition from stakeholders due not only to the excessive financial burden, but also environmental considerations.
Associations will now be able to simply compost their waste, but this must be done in a closed container; the compost should be used as a nutrient for the associations’ own cultivation operations; and a detailed written record of “all stages of the waste composting procedure” should be kept.
Finally, the tests, which require associations to “test [leur] cannabis at a level ten times that of medical cannabis”, should cost “thousands and thousands” every month, just to determine the quality of the product. There would also be only two test machines on the island with the obligation to raise the levels of at least nine cannabinoids.
While the CURA said the “testing regime is maintained in its entirety”, it clarified that “the frequency and modalities of testing have been refined to address the risk of each specific element of the testing criteria”.
Phytocannabinoid profile testing will eventually be done “periodically”, rather than with each batch, but bacteria, yeast, mold and moisture testing will still need to be done by the association “prior to release.” of each batch.
“We expected more applications at the moment”
While some welcomed CURA’s willingness to respond to feedback and change regulations to address stakeholder concerns, Bonello suggested there was still a long way to go.
While it is positive to see that completely unnecessary costs have been reviewed, the overall effectiveness of the ‘tweaked’ regulations remains to be seen.
“A lot of communities and former farmers are still unable to form an association. One wonders how the objectives of combating the illicit market and social justice can be achieved when the needs of those who fought for this reform are ignored”.
Mr. McKay and Ms. Buttigieg, meanwhile, said they thought the “process was going very well” and that the feedback they had received from the founders had been positive so far.
Furthermore, the Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms hinted that Malta would soon meet with other countries wishing to replicate its model.
The duo also said that of the seven associations that applied, there is a mix of cultivation practices between indoor and outdoor cultivation methods, while the majority of them had between 100 and 150 members.
However, given that CURA was created more than six months ago, Mr. Bonello said that “one would not only expect that there would be many more applicants, but also that that a large number of them are already operational”.
“However, we hope that the fundamental principles of the reform will be respected, acting in the best interests of the community and genuinely focusing efforts on social justice and human rights. ” he added.
