Rhea Rogers, Committee Member "Let it not be a criminal offence for anyone to be found in possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana and such individuals should be subject to administrative penalties as referred to in section 2 below."

Courtney Weatherburne Reporting
This is just one of 11 recommendations that the decriminalization of Marijuana Committee proposed in their report.

Today their final 2015 report was launched at Spoonaz Coffee Shop -

An informal and unconventional setting for a topic that challenges convention.

It is the first formal report of the committee and if these recommendations are approved, some marijuana users won't have to worry about criminal penalties.

Doug Singh, Committee looking into decriminalization
"What we have in this very small bag here is essentially 10 grams. An idea of what the recommendations are of making, that anyone in possession of this, should not carry any criminal penalties. By way of comparison, I just like to mentioned, I believe as of yesterday Jamaica's parliament enacted into law the decriminalization of two ounces which is about 59 grams plus, which is equivalent to this amount and essentially 6 times the volume in the document that we are recommending."

But others are not so much in support of what the document is recommending.

Clinton Pulu Lightburn, Discussion Participant
"I was talking to a person who has 6 kids, a women, and she buys a quarter pound of marijuana and she it takes her two days to sell. She spent $50 and she doubles up. So, she makes $50 in two days. She is making $25 a day. That's not even taxable. How in the world are you going to send somebody to jail for 3 years plus $10,000 who is doing a $25 a day marijuana business. These people while they are selling you, they are still begging you. Marijuana is the only thing that keeps them stable when there is no crumbs falling from the table. They are sending a woman with 6 kids in Jail for 3 years and charged her $10,000, because of ignorance."

According to Doug, it's a combination of that ignorance and general misconceptions about the report that has fueled disapproval and discontent.

Doug Singh, Committee looking into decriminalization
"It's not a report to legalize marijuana. It's not a report that makes any such recommendation. It's a report that makes a recommendation to remove the criminal penalties associated with possession of a certain amount. Meaning that, if you have marijuana in your pocket and it's under 10 grams and you are walking on the street, you are still breaking the law, but I can't take you to jail for it and you would not get a criminal record as a result of being charged for it. It would be like a ticketing infraction. It's quite similar in fact to what Jamaica has recently legislated. Its recognizing that it's still not a legal activity, but there is no reason why people should go to jail for it and that was the impetus of the exercise."

"We recognize on the onset when we announced the initiative that there was a misinterpretation of what the focus of the committee. People heard decriminalization, but really look at its removal of penalties as legalization. I some context it is also called de-penalization - removing the criminal penalties associated with it and we had to put some clarity on that. I am afraid that I don't think we were very successful in doing so, because I think people still saw the exercise as legalization to a certain extent and I think some of the comments we had here today at the release of this document is reflective of that. There were people who felt we did not go far enough. At the same time though, I have to reflect the opinions of people who we interviewed, who felt that legalization is going too far."

You can read the report online at mybelize.net.