Marijuana Regulation Means Legalization & Future Degradation -

MARIJUANA REGULATION. Last week the Minister of New Growth Industries Kareem Musa said that he planned to bring up “cannabis legislation” at the next meeting of the Belize House of Representatives. By that he meant his amendment to the Misuse of Drugs Act. He added, “a lot of people like to say you are legalizing marijuana, it’s not that. We are regulating it to ensure that we have an industry in place.”

But this is a semantic dodge. The government is not going to regulate an illegal activity and call it a legitimate industry. Of course, regulation means legalization.

Minister Musa seeks the business and tax revenues that this “new growth industry” would bring to Belize. Moreover, he favors allowing those convicted of illegal use or sales of marijuana to apply for licenses to sell it. As a result, that rewards lawbreakers, and essentially legalizes their crimes. Instead, they should go through a process of proving they respect the law before they get any such license.

But is legalizing marijuana really going to help Belize recover economically? Or will it set us on a very dangerous course that would be hard to reverse?

Three major dangers

Here are serious perils it poses:

To mental health: The more a young person smokes marijuana, the more he or she risks depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. And the more it damages learning ability, critical thinking, problem-solving and memory. Also, the more available marijuana is, the more usage and the more damage. So let’s not sacrifice their—and our—future to questionable economic gain.

See https://marijuanaharmlessthinkagain.org/

To the economy: The drug trade degrades our country’s financial status and threatens to end more corresponding banking relationships. Such relationships allow us to participate in the world economy

See https://www.barbadosadvocate.com/columns/commentary-relevance-and-state-us-caribbean-relations-%E2%80%93-part-3

To escalate crime: the bigger the marijuana business in Belize, the more that drug cartels will work to get involved. And they have military backing. They would use their power to influence business and politics in Belize. Moreover, PLUS-TV Belize has discussed this threat at length.

Instead of focusing on marijuana as our new growth industry, let’s develop healthy industries. They will provide much better futures for our youth and our economy in a law-respecting society.