And from the virus wrecking our economy to the drug that may save it or not, according to the churches.

The National Evangelical Association of Belize sent out a press release today blazing the Minister of New Growth Industries for his comments about establishing a hemp industry in Belize. While the Minister is motivated by the economic benefit such an industry would have for the country, NEAB said that they are disappointed that he is disregarding moral boundaries. They went on to say, quote, "That rationale can see "economic benefit" in human and drug trafficking, drug planes, cocaine, heroin, and illegal arms trading does that mean we should embrace those "industries" also? Belize already has a serious substance abuse issue, and to suggest that legalizing and profiting off a marijuana industry will eliminate gang turf battles and murders is severely misguided." End quote. They claimed that since the decriminalization of recreational marijuana, there has been an increase of drug planes and drug related arrests.

Additionally, NEAB said, quote, "Becoming a "Marijuana Republic" will further degrade Belize' relationship with international banks and have severe ramifications on our banking sector and economy. Honest business people doing legitimate business presently cannot access international funds because of Belize' non-compliance. This will make that worse!" End quote.

They are now urging the government to research alternative industries that would be beneficial to the economy.

But what were the comments that sparked NEAB's outrage? On Tuesday, we asked Minister Kareem Musa about this exact scenario the churches would not be too happy with legalizing the drug.

"The other elephant in the room is the churches, the churches when the recreational use was legalize the churches said it would encourage indulance, immorality, miscreancy, all this sort of thing. Now if you take it to the other level, are you afraid of the blow back from those churches, the NEAB, let's say, which took a very hard-line last time?"

"Whether we like it or not, marijuana, cannabis is consumed in Belize on a daily basis, it is already recreationally legal. Already. And so all that we are doing, is saying that we need to make it benefit our country in terms of our economy. There is no greater time Jules than now, because of the challenges we face because of COVID, because of the dire state our economy is in, we do need whatever help we can get and if we can get help and economic relief from the cannabis industry as well as the tourism industry as well as our agricultural industry, it can all play a part in bouncing back our economy. When it comes to the churches in particular, I would want to suggest, again we are just at the infancy stage, Jules, because it is an exciting opportunity that we are considering here. But I would like to propose because of the taxes that are already administered on alcohol and cigarette, those naturally would also apply to marijuana, I would also like to propose a ten percent additional tax that goes specifically to an education fund, again to provide free education, that is one of our party's manifesto plans that we presented, free education, and the question I'm sure either you or Isani asked, how are we going to pay for free education? So if we can put a ten percent tax that goes specifically to education from the cannabis industry, I think we would solve a lot of the problems that we now face in our country and I'm sure that even the churches would realize, yes, while it is we have marijuana recreationally being used in our country, there has to be an opportunity to be gained from it, and this is that opportunity and that's why we want to formulate that policy with all the business people in Belize, with all the stakeholders, to ensure that we have the best possible, highest quality product in Belize. Today, the Minister responded to the release by noting that alcohol and tobacco must have gone through similar resistance, and it's normal to receive backlash from the churches. His statement further said that while they understand that the church has been disrespected by the past administration, he will not simply disregard them but instead will embrace dialogue. Their perspective, as he put it, will always be a guiding force in making decision on national issues, even though it is not the only factor."

And while the Ministry also acknowledges that no process is smooth, they regret that the new president of NEAB failed to approach Musa regarding their position, but the Ministry still invites them to make their input.