Watch: How roadside drug tests will work in practice

Watch: How roadside drug tests will work in practice – and why every Maltese driver needs to pay attention

Just after sunrise on a Thursday in Gżira, Transport Malta officers set up a discreet checkpoint beside the yacht marina. A queue of commuters inch forward, coffee cups in hand, when a plain-clothes officer waves a white Škoda Octavia to the kerb. Within three minutes the driver is standing at the boot, blowing into a breathalyser and then swiping the inside of his cheek with a small plastic wand. The wand goes into a handheld reader; 90 seconds later the screen flashes green. “Negative for THC, cocaine and opiates – you’re free to go, ħabib,” the officer smiles. The driver exhales relief, the queue inches on, and the new era of roadside drug testing in Malta quietly begins.

This scene, captured in an official video released yesterday by the Home Affairs Ministry, is what everyday enforcement will look like once the amended Road Traffic Act comes into force on 1 October. But beyond the gadgetry, the change speaks to deeper Maltese realities: our island-sized social networks, our weekend village festa culture, and the unspoken rule that a couple of beers or half a joint “won’t hurt” on the ten-minute drive home.

THE SCIENCE IN A SUNGLASSES CASE
The device used in the demo is the Securetec DrugWipe 6 S, the same model already deployed by German Autobahnpolizei and, closer to home, Gozo Channel security during last summer’s festival exodus. A saliva sample is collected with a sponge-tipped swab; the reader measures metabolites for cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates, methadone and benzodiazepines. Limits mirror those used in France: 15 ng/ml for THC, 50 ng/ml for cocaine. Cross the threshold and you’re escorted to the nearest police station for a blood draw – refusal is a criminal offence punishable by licence suspension and up to €5,000 in fines.

LOCAL CONTEXT: FROM ‘KIF INT?’ TO ‘CAN YOU BLOW?’
Malta decriminalised personal-use cannabis in 2021, but confusion reigns. “Clients still think ‘legal’ means ‘driveable’,” says lawyer Lara Bugeja, who has already fielded panicked calls from Paceville bar owners. Meanwhile, elderly drivers in rural localities like Żebbuġ worry about prescribed opioids after hip replacements. Police sources tell Hot Malta that the first month will prioritise education: officers will issue written warnings rather than court summonses, mirroring the soft-landing approach used when seat-belt laws were introduced in the 1990s.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: THE FESTA FACTOR
Summer brings fireworks, brass bands and late-night street parties where rum-and-Kinnie flows freely. In Qormi, St George’s feast chairperson Clayton Briffa is already briefing volunteers. “We’ve doubled our free shuttle fleet to 14 golf carts,” he says. “No one wants to see a parishioner arrested on feast day – it would cast a shadow on the whole celebration.” Similar conversations are happening in Għaxaq, Mellieħa and Nadur, where village committees have plastered bus stops with cheeky bilingual posters: “Don’t let a spliff kill the vibe – use the ride home.”

COMMUNITY IMPACT: JOBS, JUSTICE AND JUDGEMENT
The new law creates a cottage industry overnight. Local start-up QuickTest Labs has ordered 120 DrugWipe units and is recruiting 40 part-time ‘traffic medics’ – mostly nursing students – to assist police. At €35 per roadside test, the company projects €1.2 million in revenue by 2025, a figure that has piqued the Malta Chamber of SMEs. Yet civil society groups warn of profiling. “We’re monitoring stops to ensure darker-skinned drivers aren’t disproportionately targeted,” says Maria Camilleri from aditus foundation.

For everyday motorists, the shift is psychological. “I’ve deleted my dealer’s number,” admits 28-year-old gamer Karl from St Julian’s. “It’s not worth losing the car my dad helped me buy.” Others are less convinced; a Facebook poll run by Lovin Malta found 61 % of respondents doubt the machines’ accuracy in 35 °C heat.

CONCLUSION: THE MALTESE WAY FORWARD
By Christmas, roadside drug tests will be as routine as zebra crossings. Whether the change saves lives or fuels resentment depends on transparency: publishing anonymised stop data, training officers to smile as well as swab, and reminding ourselves that, on an island where everyone knows your nanna, reputation is a currency stronger than any fine. As the Home Affairs Minister put it while launching the video: “We want fewer court cases and more cautionary tales told on the band club balcony.” In other words, the spirit of the law is not to criminalise the village feast, but to make sure the only thing lighting up the night sky is the fireworks – not the blue flash of a police beacon.