Leader of Democratic Party (DP), Sali Berisha has criticized the initiative of the current government to legalize the hashish or medical purposes. 

Berisha underlined that the legalization of cannabis will bring a new wave of crime to Albania, while he highlighted the fact that billions of euros of dirty money are being invested in the country, stemming from the trading of narcotics that were massively planted in 2015 and back.

"I know that in other countries there is a debate about the legalization of drugs and maybe they even vote, but from the Albanian experience I tell you with the most complete conviction, first of all, drugs are a crime, a crime and only a crime. Any country that legalizes drugs does nothing but legalize in one way or another the crime it brings. 

In Albania, the cannabis that was planted in 2015 massively created billions of euros and caused Albanian traffickers to conquer the cocaine market in Latin America with that money and Albania became not only a producer of cannabis on the continent but also a step towards cocaine and other drugs. Some of you are doctors and I was a doctor, but in all that I have read there is no definitive study on the beneficial effects, other than pain relief," underlined Berisha.