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Proposal is for depenalization, not decrim, which is essence, is the same


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Marijuana decriminalization paper goes to Cabinet

The long-awaited final report from the Marijuana Decriminalization Committee will be released tomorrow, Friday, at Spoonaz Caf� on North Front Street in Belize City. Amandala has been reliably informed that a copy of the paper, which proposes to remove sanctions from the private and personal use of marijuana, has been sent off to National Security Minister John Saldivar, for presentation to Cabinet and hopefully by the time Cabinet meets to deliberate on the matter, it would have already had a gauge of public reaction to the recommendations.

The Committee's proposals maintain the view that marijuana possession of 10 grams or less (that's about a third of a pound), enough to fit in the cup of one's hand, should be decriminalized. This does not mean that a person will not face any consequences at all if found in possession of 10 grams in public; rather, such possession in public spaces would attract a fine; and smoking in public would, if the recommendations hold, still attract criminal sanctions.

Jamaica's Parliament recently approved decriminalization of possession of 60 grams of marijuana, equal to about 2 ounces or just over 2 handfuls worth of marijuana.

The Belize Decriminalization Committee, appointed in 2012, reviewed the report submitted to Jamaica's cabinet back in 2001 and a report for the Canadian government filed around the same time. In 2011, Canada decriminalized the use of 10 grams.

There have also been extensive consultations with various community groups and churches before the formulation of the final report, which we understand is 47 pages long and which should be available Friday on mybelize.net.

The special drug court, which will eventually hear these cases, apparently won't come on stream before these decriminalization provisions are made law.

Once Cabinet gives the green light to the recommendations, a suite of legislative amendments would be drafted for passage by Parliament.

The committee's recommendations propose that while smoking in private would be permitted, smoking in front of children would be criminal because it would endanger the health of minors.

Marijuana possession in public spaces would not result in criminal records or incarceration, but could attract fines of $15 per gram (or $150 for 10 grams), with two-thirds of the proceeds going to the court and one-third going to the National Drug Abuse Control Council for Drug Education.

Marijuana trafficking laws, which cover possession over 60 grams, in Belize would remain untouched, and laws to ban the possession of marijuana plants - deemed cultivation - are not recommended for amendments.

In recent years, there has been a global wave to decriminalize marijuana use.

Amandala


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BELIZE Decriminalization of Marijuana Committee FINAL REPORT 2015

The Decriminalization of Marijuana Committee (DOMC) has released the document on the decriminalization of Marijuana. In March 2012, a small group of public and private Belizean citizens were tasked to research and make recommendations to assist Belize's policymakers in considering the amendment of current legislation to decriminalize possession of up to ten grams of marijuana.

The group formed became the Decriminalization of Marijuana Committee (DOMC) chaired by Douglas Singh, the former Minister of Police and is comprised of five women and four men representing a cross section of the Belizean community. Members are ethnically, socioeconomically, professionally, and philosophically diverse. Their unifying attribute is their commitment to presenting a researched consensus on the issue of the decriminalization of marijuana in Belize.

Members include:

Chairman and Businessman, Douglas Singh
Public Servant, Rhea Rogers Chang
Travel Consultant, Katie Valk
Retired Public Servant, C. B. Hyde
Entrepreneur, Jeremy Spooner
Attorney, Donelle Harding Hawke
Director of National Drug Abuse Control Council (NDACC) - Belize, Esner Vellos
Entrepreneur, Susan Fuller, and
Activist, YaYa Marin Coleman.

The DOMC members have worked under the guide of the Terms of Reference (page 4). They held discussions, reviewed literature, conducted surveys, and organized consultations to obtain documentation of public opinion, local context, and international trends on the issue of decriminalizing marijuana. DOMC members spent countless hours reading emails from Belizeans, listening to various opinions, frequently noting and appreciating the candidness of persons to the idea. To highlight elements that helped to enlighten DOMC members on public opinion, sparked heated discussions, and assisted in formalizing recommendations, excerpts from Personal Interviews are included on page 20 of this report.

CLICK HERE for the whole report.


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I, family, and friends (7 total) spent the month of July on Ambergris Caye, in San Pedro Town. We rented an apartment not far from the High School. We swam, lounged, visited many resturants, street vendors, bars, and gift shops. Took the water taxi to Caye Caulker for a day there, again swam, ate, drank, and shopped. We all had a wonderful time, on both Islands. Our average age, 53. I raised the average because I was the oldest at 67. Every single day of our stay we were offered to purchase "weed". And of course scuba trips, real estate, and even "pretty ladies" by the locals we encountered along the beach, and in town. All we declined.
Had someone approched us with the offer of an FatTire Amber Ale, or a Blue Moon Belgian White Ale, I'll admit we would have not been able to resist, I personally would have forked over $40. BZD for a decent American Craft beer.
This is not an entirely a tounge in cheek comment, relaxing the laws on weed would go a long way in making Belize a more tourist friendly destination. But it wouldn't entice me (or anyone in my group )to return if it were decriminalized. We were, to a person, dissapointed in the beer available in Belize.
What would make Belize my favorite place on earth ? A thriving craft beer culture, relaxed weed laws, relaxed "gay" laws. None of my group are gay, a couple are "420". But all are beer "geeks". An open beer culture would skyrocket Belize to the tourist destination extraordinaire. Way more than relaxed weed laws. JMHO.


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Marijuana de-penalization coming!

At the end of January a white paper was presented to Cabinet for its consideration at the possibility of decriminalizing marijuana. The issue has been looked at and in preliminary fashion Cabinet has decided that amendments be made to the criminal code to deal with persons who are caught with 10 grams or less of the drug. According to Minister of National Security, who has had reservations about the entire issue, Cabinet received the paper three weeks ago. It was reviewed and sent to the Attorney General's office for changes to the laws to accommodate the move.

While Cabinet has asked for amendments to the law, Minister Saldivar explained to the Guardian that the recommendations are not necessarily for the decriminalization of Marijuana, rather he deems it as de-penalization. In broad terms the Cabinet has recommended that anyone who has been caught with 10 grams or less be fined and no prison term be attached when found guilty of that amount. Additionally convictions of these amounts would not form part of the person's criminal record.

The Attorney General, Hon. Vanessa Retreage, in who's hands the task now lies to come up with amendments to the legislation says that her office is already working on the amendments and currently the legal draftsperson is putting the amendments together. She echoed Minister Saldivar's sentiment that it is not a decriminalization of Marijuana rather a de-penalization. She says that the amendments will be ready by the end of March and will be presented to Cabinet then.

Retreage says that the recommendations to Cabinet are sweeping and at this point in time there is no infrastructure in place to support them. Among the recommendations is for offenders to attend drug rehabilitations programs but these are currently non-existent. She added that for now the first step will be the de-penalizing of weed possession where small fines may be imposed on those caught with small quantities. The considerations at this point in time may be that the legislative changes may look at the penalties be 'akin to a ticket' and may also include changes in the processing of persons caught with small quantities where it may not necessary to actually detain the individual caught. All of this however is in a consideration stage as the legal draftspersons in the Attorney General's Ministry look at all current Marijuana legislation and make the adjustments.

The process of decriminalizing marijuana started in July 2012 when the cabinet commissioned the Decriminalization of Marijuana Committee to examine the pros and cons of the decriminalization of up to 10 grams of marijuana. This Cabinet sub-committee utilized "public opinion, open discussions, debate, and literature review to come to a general consensus and to formulate recommendations".

The Guardian

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GOB to decriminalize marijuana

After years of research and consultation, the Government of Belize is preparing to amend the laws of Belize to decriminalize marijuana.

Cabinet has handed recommendations made by the Decriminalization of Marijuana Committee, over to the office of the Attorney General for the legislative amendments to be drafted.

Douglas Singh, DOMC chairman, told the Reporter on Thursday evening, that the committee contacted the government to inquire where they were in considering the recommendations the committee had submitted in its report last year.

Singh explained that GOB, for the benefit of current ministers who were not a part of Cabinet at the time the report was initially submitted, gave the report another review and accepted the recommendations therein.

"There were some recommendations relative to fines�these things sometimes have conflicts so they will have to look at certain areas and elements but in principle the government has embraced the concept of decriminalization," Singh said.

He added that, to his knowledge, none of the recommendations were subject to change. Some of those recommendations, however, require structures which are not yet in place in Belize.

In March 2015, the DOMC presented its's report to Cabinet, concluding a process started in 2012 by Prime Minister Dean Barrow. The Committee tabled 11 recommendations including: that it not be a criminal offense for anyone to be found in possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana and that there be an amendment to the "Misuse of Drugs Act" to remove the word cannabis as one of the listed substances.

The Committee also recommended that there be no incarceration for up to 10 grams and that instead, a ticket be issued as well as mandatory drug education counseling plus a fine of $15 per gram and community service, rehabilitation and treatment.

The National Drug Abuse Control Council, when consulted by the DOMC, opposed the decriminalization until those rehabilitation facilities were in place and an established drug court system could be implemented to deal with offenses that would occur under the new amendments.

The Committee also advocated for the removal of a criminal penalty for the use of paraphernalia, including pipes and other products, in relation to the use of cannabis.
If GOB proceeds with all the recommendations of the DOMC, everyone who has been arrested for offenses under the amendment will retroactively have their criminal records expunged of those charges.

Decriminalization is where governments remove prison sentences from an offense, and replace it with lesser penalties. Decriminalization is not to be confused with legalization, where an action ceases to be an offense under the law.

The Reporter

==================================

Laws in the works for marijuana decriminalization

Laws for the decriminalization of marijuana, for possession of up to 10 grams, are in the works. Amandala is reliably informed that after Cabinet gave its nod for the legal drafting, the Attorney General's Ministry began working on amendments to the Criminal Code which would remove criminal penalties in the event that persons are found with marijuana within what would become the new limit.

Of note, though, is that Government is not moving to legalize marijuana use. Persons found with small quantities of marijuana would instead receive a fine through a sort of ticketing system. It is only in the event that the person fails to pay the fine that he or she would face incarceration.

Former National Security Minister Doug Singh, who was integrally involved in preparing a white paper which has been reviewed twice by Cabinet, told Amandala that Cabinet had approved the recommendations which were unveiled to the press last year. Since the November elections, new members were added to Cabinet, and they were recently presented with the white paper.

According to Singh, the drafted legislation would go back to Cabinet to ensure that what was intended is being accomplished. Subsequently, the proposed legislation would be tabled in the National Assembly.

Singh said that if we consider the way the world is going, Belize's recommendations happen to be "conservative."

In the case of Jamaica, he said, they last year decriminalized 60 grams of marijuana, which is the full amount for which a person would be charged with drug possession here in Belize. Anyone found with over that amount will be charged with drug trafficking. Belize is only decriminalizing a sixth of what Jamaica has decriminalized.

Singh said that Jamaica had also proceeded to include medical marijuana in its exemptions - effectively legalizing it for a purpose - something that Belize has not included in its set of recommendations.

Whereas the new laws being drafted would allow for persons in possession of 10 grams of marijuana or less to face a fine and/or be committed to community service, they would also allow for the records of persons who have been convicted for possession within these limits to be expunged.

"Too many young people have this following them, those who are seeking jobs," Singh said.

He noted that whereas for certain levels of jobs, employers do not usually ask for a police record, for basic entry-level positions they often do, and so the ability of persons who may have been caught with small amounts of marijuana to earn an honest living is adversely impacted.

Singh notes that there is already a mechanism in place to expunge those records, because some years ago, when he was Minister with responsibility for Police, he had led a similar process which saw hundreds of records expunged following an amendment to the Criminal Code.

The gamut of recommendations on the decriminalization of marijuana in Belize also includes drug education and rehabilitation for repeat offenders.

Singh said that there should be a "firewalling of penalties to put into a fund" that could be accessed for drug education and rehab through entities such as the National Drug Abuse Control Council.

A drug court, a separate initiative, is also in the works, which would allow persons who elect to do so, to appear before that court for drug-related infractions and crimes.

Amandala

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The Director of The National Drug Abuse Control Council was on the DOMC with us and crafted this proposal


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Marijuana Laws to Be Amended

Exactly one year ago a media session was called by the Decriminalization of Marijuana Committee in Belize City. In that session presentations were made on the findings and recommendations that were submitted to Cabinet for review on February 26, 2015. Cabinet has since reviewed the report and have taken the decision to amend the laws. While there has been no official report on the decision by Cabinet, Love News understands that laws will be amended whereby anyone convicted of marijuana possession will not have that placed on his or her record providing that it is ten grams or less. The other amendment will stipulate that jail time will no longer be an option for someone convicted of having ten grams or less of marijuana in their possession. According to Minister John Saldivar, who has responsibility for National Security, this is the extent to which this Government is prepared to go at this time. Saldivar's comments were noted on his social media page as he continues in his statement, saying, quote, "If one carefully studies these new policies one would realize that they both have to do with consequences only. Marijuana use and possession is not being legalized nor is it being encouraged by these two amendments. All the Cabinet has done can be characterized as addressing the "appropriateness of the consequences or sentencing". He went on to note that, quote, "Obviously, Cabinet feels that the negative effects on society and the individual of incarcerating persons for possession of small amounts of marijuana far outweigh the positive effects of throwing these people in jail, and similarly the negative effect on society and the individual of that person having to carry for life on his police record a conviction for possession of a small amount of marijuana far outweighs the positive effect on society and the individual of having that person carry that record for life." End of quote. Minister Saldivar ended by saying that the debate is ongoing as to how far we should go towards the legalization of marijuana. The Chairman of the Decriminalization of Marijuana Committee is Douglas Singh, in our initial report on this matter Singh spoke to us on some of the recommendations made to Cabinet including a ticketing system.

The recommendations given to Cabinet were compiled into a 46-page document by the committee members, namely, Rhea Rogers Chang, Katie Valk, CB Hyde, Jeremy Spooner, Donelle Harding Hawke, Esner Vellos, Susan Fuller and YaYa Marin Coleman.


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John Brice�o, Leader of the Opposition, comes out for legalization:

"It is time for us to stop locking up our young people for a stick of weed. The time has come for us to decriminalize marijuana smoking and prepare the necessary research to move to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes and in small quantities. (Applause)"

Channel 5


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This is always such a passionate topic and for me it is 'live and let live'......However, I'll make this request .....If you are high: Do not take my family on a dive, Do not take my family on a tour, Do not drive my family in a Taxi, Do not insist that my family must get high, Do not go to your place of employment... Please be responsible for your behavior, your actions and the consequences of your inaction when under the influence......AND YES such as true for people who drink alcohol or partake in any other type of mind altering influence.....

Last edited by Judyann H.; 03/24/17 07:40 AM.

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