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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.
Jules Vasquez
"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?"
Hon. Kareem Musa - Minister, New Growth Industries
"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.
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