Drug offences : a legal analysis of procedural aspects and punishment

Abstract

The first Chapter discusses what is expected from the international legal framework governing the use, possession and trafficking of drugs, and then goes on to state how state parties to the international conventions have transposed the U.N. Conventions' provisions into their domestic laws. This chapter then outlines the offences of use, possession and trafficking of drugs in Maltese drug legislation. Any use of drugs other than as provided by national legislation is deemed to be a violation, thereby amounting to an offence. The purpose of the second chapter is to review the punishment awarded by several countries of the European Union for the offences of use, possession and trafficking of illicit drugs. Next in line is the third chapter which treats the wide discretion of the Maltese Attorney General in drug related cases, and the legal implications of this procedural technique. The fourth chapter attempts a legal analysis of the punishment provided by Article 22 of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance and Article 120A of the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance. The fifth chapter treats the position of quantitative criteria and the classification of drugs in establishing the punishment in foreign jurisdictions with particular attention given to the Maltese arena.