Thank you for not smoking... cannabis: the odour of a new civic issue
Smell the funk of wacky-baccy in the air? No matter which side you’re on, the etiquette of smoking cannabis in public, illegal though it may still be, may yet become a civic issue for Maltese
Malta’s recent partial decriminalisation of recreational weed has set the standard for a non-profit model of cannabis associations dispensing limited amounts of regulate marijuana for personal use.
Together with the ability to possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use, the Maltese experience follows on from that pioneered in so many American states, where nearly half the country has decriminalised the drug. In Malta, it is carrying up to 7g of cannabis that is decriminalised; anything upwards of that to under 28g gets confiscated, ergo de-penalised, and anything beyond, or having more than four plants at home, is illegal.
Similarly, many American states also still ban the smoking of weed in public streets and parks – a unique form of restriction for something that is actually legal to consume, when considering other harmful forms of tobacco that are allowed to be consumed publicly. The fine for anyone caught consuming cannabis in public in Malta is €235 apart from appearing before a justice commissioner. It goes up to €500 for smoking in front of a minor.
But what happens when the pungent smoke of cannabis seeps through the doors of private apartment dwellers and annoys nearby tenants?
Odours from cannabis smoke might be a new kind of civic problem that have yet to be addressed in the climate of recent liberalisation. MPs like Claudette Buttigieg have previously complained in Parliament that a lack of enforcement on cannabis smoking in public places is leading to a greater nuisance with the smell of weed permeating on walkways. But her anecdotal claim that a guide dog accompanying a visually impaired man had “got high from inhaling second-hand cannabis smoke in a restaurant”, and was therefore unable to take its owner home, was met with some derision.
The example may be one of just a few complaints, committed to the parliamentary record, on the question-mark about ‘antisocial’ cannabis smoking since its decriminalisation: what to do about a smell that non-smokers (and tobacco smokers) might not find gratifying?
Buttigieg claimed that the visually impaired man she spoke about was eating out in a restaurant and that the venue’s smoking area could have hosted people smoking cannabis – the allegation is indication that certain restaurants and bars are tolerating the smoking of cannabis on their premises or in their open-air areas.
Buttigieg and other PN MPs have argued that the change in cannabis laws have normalised the smoking of cannabis in public without any real enforcement of the law. “There is no enforcement of the laws we pass here. How come nobody gets caught smoking in public? Is it possible that only we [the Opposition MPs] smell cannabis smoke on the street? Go for a walk in places like Sliema and you will smell it. And I hear this from many people. It has been normalised,” Buttigieg told the House in 2023.
In a subsequent PQ, the home affairs minister said that police had arrested just three people smoking cannabis in a public place in Valletta, between October and January 2024. In the following three months, 15 arrests were made in Rabat, Naxxar, Marsaskala, Marsa, Valletta, Paola and Żurrieq.
Complaints related to cannabis smells have had relatively minor outings in the press. In 2020, the Strada Rjali website published a three-paragraph item claiming the smell of cannabis smoke had been detected – by anonymous members of the public – near an eatery on St Lucy Street in Naxxar. The allegation was linked to a “property lived in by foreign residents” – the news angle betraying the often-xenophobic complaints about foreign workers being also responsible for antisocial behaviour and law-breaking.
In 2023, following the complaints of PN MPs in the House on the smell of cannabis smoke, Strada Rjali asked its readers whether they are bothered by the odours: “There’s no control… cannabis smoking is taking place in open spaces, even when other people are nearby.”
The pungency of weed can be a natural by-product of smoking, but for those who do not find the smell gratifying, the chance of weaponising odours against unwelcome neighbours can become a litigious confrontation. Even at law, apartment dwellers will find that invasive odours can be contested on the basis of the European Convention’s right to respect for a private and family life: a right defined not just in the context of a home’s actual physical area, but also to its quiet enjoyment within reasonable limits, from interferences that can include smells or emissions.
Odours have after all, also led police to arrest offenders smoking cannabis in public places – making the funk of weed the first sign of something illicit going on. Last year, a 24-year-old was arrested smoking cannabis on Halloween night at the Salini Park. The court heard the arresting officers say they had noticed the smell of cannabis during a patrol. The crime was aggravated by having taken place within 100 metres away from where “young people are normally gathered”, but also because the offender had been carrying 48g of cannabis, an illegal quantity, divided in 14 packets.
It’s not a phenomenon solely reserved for those with a sensitive olfactory sense simply going on a stroll around the village: in 2022, Australian tennis ace Nick Kyrgios complained that a spectator was smoking cannabis during his match at the US Open. Kyrgios suggested the chair umpire should warn the crowd inside the Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York.
The matter has been deemed serious enough in various cities that even Amsterdam has banned smoking cannabis in public in its red-light district, part of a set of policies to reduce nuisance for residents after increasingly desperate complaints about problems caused by tourists following the end of pandemic restrictions. Locals were forced to take matters into their own hands with a ‘Wallen watch’ patrolling the streets to remind tourists of their manners, and campaign group ‘Stop de Gekte’ [stop the madness] campaigned repeatedly for council action.
Fuzzy about the law
Part of the public confusion on the decriminalisation of recreational smoking is the fact that while cannabis associations (the official language is ‘harm reduction societies’ because the clubs do not simply dispense cannabis, but also promote important cannabis education) have strict rules governing the dispensation of legal cannabis, other retailers that sell cannabis products with less than 0.2% THC – the psychoactive property of cannabis – do not have the same prohibitionist rules.
While cannabis associations must have only discrete signage and dispense limited amounts to a registered clientele, ‘head shops’ selling cannabidiol (CBD) products and edibles with ultra-low THC levels, as well as smoking aids like bongs and grinders, can display their wares openly, promoting them with the familiar cannabis leaf symbols and well-known motifs from the world of weed.
This jarring contrast between cannabis associations and head shops sends mixed signals to that part of the public that is ambivalent towards cannabis smokers: the CBD shops promote a liberalism that is disallowed to the cannabis associations dispensing legal weed. It’s the apparent lack of enforcement on public cannabis smoking on beaches and parks or outside certain establishments, that leads to confusion and complaints such as those recently made by MPs.
Malta decriminalised the recreational smoking and growing of cannabis in 2021 with the creation of a new regulator – the Authority on the Responsible use of Cannabis – which monitors cannabis associations selling home-grown cannabis to a limited number of members.
The new law allows associations to have up to 500 registered members and supply cannabis in a non-for-profit framework. Each member can be supplied with up to 7g daily, but capped at 50g per month from the organisation.
Individuals can carry up to 7g of cannabis on their person in public without the fear of sanctioning. However, the use of cannabis in public is not permissible. Neither is it licit to share or gift that cannabis, unlike tobacco smokers, who can freely give out their cigarettes.
The law also states that individuals can grow up to four plants of cannabis in their home and have up to 50g of dried produce in their residence at any given point. Such plants cannot be visible to third persons.
With Malta’s decriminalisation of weed came a drastic drop in drug-related arraignments, with 259 arraignments in 2017 dropping to 43 arraignments in 2022. Potency of cannabis in 2022 – reported at an average of 11% THC content for both resin and herbal cannabis – has seen a growing trend, with legally-grown strains producing THC that can be as high as 20%.
Cannabis no, nicotine yes
What is it about the odour that jolts non-smokers, as well as tobacco smokers, into moral objections?
By being banned in public, cannabis smell is itself redolent of something that is illicit and therefore objectionable. But still, less is said about equally illicit, dangerous yet tolerated practices such as drink-driving.
It’s a difference that cannabis advocate Andrew Bonello, president of ReLeaf, says is important to highlight. “It is important to distinguish between what is morally offending the person and what is posing a health threat. Smelling cannabis will not pose a threat to health, but is only offending the person's moral beliefs that cannabis is the ‘devil’s lettuce’.”
Bonello, who describes complaints by MPs on second-hand cannabis smoke effects as scaremongering that have no scientific backing, says nicotine gets consumed everywhere. “Even our national hospital has designated smoking spaces… even in drug rehab centres such as Caritas, Oasi and Sedqa. So are we really trying to promote a more just and less harmful policy, or are we trying to create a new witch hunt for people who use cannabis?”
Tobacco smoking, legal in public designated spaces while still being harmful to public health, also remains tolerated in an age when cigarettes are commonly frowned upon due to their health risks (and social cost on public healthcare). A good deal of critics of cannabis odours will also be found in this cohort. Vapes, marketed as odourless alternatives to tobacco, have also fallen foul of sensitive olfactory expectations.
What is certainly key to any sort of odour is the prejudice that it elicits from the beholder and towards the emitter. In the Oscar-winning movie Parasite, odours and smells are key descriptors for the notion of the poverty of the Kim family. When he meets them, the five-year-old son of the wealthy Park family notices the ‘smell of poverty’ by exclaiming: “They smell exactly the same!”. The inextricable ‘stench’ of poverty becomes a subtle demarcation for the class divide.
So for cannabis smokers, the question is whether a practice that is now decriminalised, prejudices their standing in society by being banned from the public sphere. After all, equally objectionable odours from (legal) cigarette and cigar smoking are tolerated in public. Why should they be denied the same courtesy?
ReLeaf has always called for designated smoking areas for people using cannabis, saying the law should not adopt discriminatory measures. “Funnily enough, even the ARUC’s educational campaign focused on non-smoking in public spaces, instead of focusing on more pressing matters for people who use cannabis such as the automatic expungement of criminal records and an extension of the decriminalised model,” Bonello said.
“We have never called for a free-for-all, but as an NGO founded on human rights we feel that a focus on an odour, instead of more pressing matters, such as construction-related deaths and the emergence of new mafias in Malta, is in part replicating the stigma the legislator tried to address back in 2021.”
Still, even in the face of scaremongering critics, cannabis consumers might find the etiquette of respecting the boundaries of those who are sensitive to the aroma of cannabis, could set a positive example of responsible use, and even help destigmatise cannabis by winning over a more understanding society.
Cannabis decriminalisation is still a relatively new concept – the complaints of MPs in the House about second-hand smoke reflect a public perception that believes liberal behaviours should be policed. But as society evolves, it will be ‘cannabis etiquette’ – simply good manners – that could foster more respect for smokers.
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