Govt says GSD ‘misunderstood’ Costa’s view on drugs policy

The Gibraltar Government has accused Opposition leader Daniel Feetham of ‘distorting’ the position drugs legalisation expressed Health Minister Neil Costa.

It was reacting after Mr Feetham said the government should seek expert advice on the issue ahead of any public consultation.

Yesterday Mr Costa said the government was doing just that, adding that the Chief `Minister had already set up an inter-ministerial committee on drugs.

“The question of if and when public consultation on the issue should take place and what questions should be asked of the public, will be decided by the Committee as a whole in due course,” the government said.

“It is obviously intended that the committee, both before and after any such consultation, will be informed by both public opinion and expert opinion in the area.”

“It is therefore inaccurate for Mr Feetham to suggest that HMGoG would not take expert advice on

the matter.”

The government said Mr Costa himself expressed a desire in a recent GBC interview to receive the latest research as to the medicinal properties of cannabis.

It added that this was just one area where expert opinion may be sought by the Committee.

“What is becoming abundantly clear across all areas of policy is that Mr Feetham and the GSD

cannot answer or criticise the Government's actual policies and so they distort what is said

and then criticise their distorted version of reality,” the government said in a statement.

“They make it up first and then criticise their own distorted version of the facts. The public will see through all that.”