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.