As he rolled up a joint in his small sitting room, Kevin Bellotti described his relief at Malta’s trailblazing cannabis legalisation after the dark years when the tiny Mediterranean island persecuted pot smokers.
“I’m so happy no one will suffer again like I did,” said the factory manager, 51, as he lit up and drew in a lungful of smoke. Arrested in 2004 for owning marijuana plants, Bellotti spent four years signing in daily at a police station while awaiting a trial that landed him in jail for seven months and forced him to sell his house.
That was before Malta made an about-turn last year, becoming the first EU state to legalise — within limits — the growing and possession of cannabis, raising
