Tiny nation makes big legal nod to recreational marijuana

GAINING GROUND A marijuana plant at the rural area of Caloto in Cauca, Colombia. Legal barriers to the recreational use of cannabis are slowly crumbling down in the West. —AFP

PARIS — Tiny Malta on Tuesday became the first country in Europe to legalize the recreational use of cannabis, with Germany and Luxembourg set to follow.

While many countries have decriminalized the use and possession of the drug, abandoning prison sentences for consumers, just Canada, Uruguay and a number of US states had made it fully legal, including for medicinal purposes.

Here is an overview:

Latin America

Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize the production, distribution and consumption of marijuana in 2013.

Its citizens and residents can buy up to 40 grams of weed a month from pharmacies, grow it themselves at home, or join cannabis clubs where members tend to the plants together.

The government has licensed two private companies to produce and distribute marijuana.

Several other Latin American countries have legalized cannabis for medicinal use: Chile in 2015, Colombia in 2016 and Argentina, Mexico and Peru in 2017.

Colombia authorized its industrial use and export for medicinal purposes in July while Mexican courts have decriminalized personal use.

North America

In 2018 Canada became the second country in the world—and the first G7 major economy —to allow the recreational consumption of cannabis.

The legislation limits personal possession to 30 g and four plants per household.

In the United States, federal law prohibits the cultivation, sale and use of marijuana.

However, 18 states and the national capital Washington have legalized marijuana for recreational use. California is the biggest legal market in the world.

Thirty-six states and the capital, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands have legalized marijuana for medical use.

Europe

Under the new Malta law adults will be allowed to have up to 7 g of cannabis and grow up to four plants at home.

It also allows nonprofit groups of up to 500 people to grow it for members.

Germany’s new government has also vowed to legalize the drug for personal use and Luxembourg is expected also to give the green light for home cultivation and use early next year.

The Netherlands in general, and Amsterdam in particular, have tolerated the sale and use of marijuana in their iconic coffee shops since 1976.

That year, the Dutch decriminalized the sale of small amounts of cannabis—less than 5 g—and allowed individuals to legally grow five plants each for personal use.

A controversial 2012 law banned the sale of marijuana to nonresidents and tourists in three southern provinces.

The Hague banned cannabis from the city center in April 2018.

But in July 2018, the Dutch government gave the green light to a wide-ranging experiment to allow up to 10 municipalities around the country to grow cannabis.

In Spain, laws allow for the private production and consumption of cannabis by adults, though its sale is still illegal.

The Czech Republic decriminalized cannabis for personal use in 2010, but you can be still fined for possessing small quantities, with criminal penalties beyond that. A similar system operates in Portugal, which decriminalized all drugs in 2001 though they still remain banned.

Users have to pay fines or agree to addiction treatment.

In July, Georgia’s supreme court did away with fines for cannabis for personal consumption. Several other European countries have legalized cannabis for certain medical purposes, including Austria, Britain, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia.

Elsewhere

In 2018, South Africa’s top court ruled that private, personal cannabis use by adults was legal.

Thailand is also planning to legalize the cultivation of cannabis for medical use, which would make it the first country in Southeast Asia to enter a market dominated by Canada, Australia and Israel.

In Lebanon, where illegal plantations of marijuana are widespread, Parliament last year legalized the cultivation of marijuana for medical use.

Morocco, the world’s No. 1 producer, passed a law in March authorizing the “medical, cosmetic and industrial” use of the drug, while keeping the ban on recreational use.