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Press Release - Belize Press Office

Decriminalization of Marijuana

Belmopan, 16th July, 2012. A committee has been appointed by the Minister of National Security to evaluate and, if appropriate, make proposals for the decriminalization of the possession of small portions of Cannabis Sativa (commonly known as Marijuana and Weed).

For the purpose of this exercise, the word decriminalization means that the treatment of the infraction will be adjusted so that most of the detriments are removed or reduced. The offence will then be subject to regulation which will allow for the implementation of probationary measures. It is also proposed that no criminal record be kept in the first instance and portions of the penalty be reserved for drug education.

The current legislation treats the possession of under 60 grams of marijuana as a criminal offence and is punishable by a fine of up to $50,000 and/or up to three years imprisonment. This proposal is to decriminalize the possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana which will then be subject to fines, mandatory drug education and no imprisonment.

This initiative is driven by increasing evidence that the current legislation clutters the courts and the prison with primarily a marginalized segment of our population. The added impact of a permanent criminal record further disadvantages this already marginalized group as it establishes a barrier against meaningful employment. The committee wishes to emphasize that the proposal is not to legalize the offence thereby purging it of all its penalties; it is merely to reduce and regulate. This is further supported by international trends towards decriminalization.

The Committee recognizes that the instant proposal for the decriminalization of small quantities of Marijuana is a sensitive issue. All interested groups and individuals are hereby given an opportunity to express their views on the matter. The committee invites you to offer a position in writing by letter or email. Please direct such correspondence to:

Douglas Singh - Committee Chair
[email protected]
# 1 Mapp Street
Belize City, Belize

We would be grateful to receive your comments by Friday July 20. If you wish to make representation to the committee please indicate in your written response and we will be pleased to accommodate your request.

US Drug War statistics and source.
40 years now, longest war in US history.

Cost, 1 Trillion, the left and right on the same page.

AP IMPACT: After 40 years, $1 trillion, US War on Drugs has failed to ...
www.foxnews.com/.../ap-impact-years-trillion-war-drugs-failed-meet...
13 May 2010 - MEXICO CITY - MEXICO CITY (AP) - After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, ...

The 40-Year War on Drugs - American Civil Liberties Union
www.aclu.org/.../40-year-war-drugs-its-not-fair-and-its-not-working
1 Jun 2011 - The 40-Year War on Drugs: It's Not Fair, and It's Not Working. ... declaration of a "war on drugs" - a war which has cost $1 trillion but produced ...


Interestingly, most of the heated diatribes about the evils of killer weed I have witnessed took place at a bar with the animated lecturer imbibing copious amounts of a "legal" drug.

Stats summary......
Death by Alcohol Vs. Weed, 23,199 to 0.

Total deaths Vs. deaths by other drugs, 2,436,652 to 37,485

Annual Causes of Death in the United States | Drug War Facts
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Causes_of_Death

Cause of death1 Number

All causes 2,436,652

Cardiovascular diseases 779,367
Malignant neoplasms 568,668
Lack of Health Insurance3 44,789
Drug induced2 37,485
Suicide 36,547
Motor vehicle accidents 36,284
Septicemia (infections) 35,587
by Firearms 31,224
Accidental poisoning 30,504
Alcohol induced 23,199
Homicide 16,591
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 9,424
Viral hepatitis 7,652
Cannabis (Marijuana) 0

I've proudly served on this committee since its inception and welcome comments or reply direct to the email we set up to voice support or concerns.

I sent an email, as did a few other people I know. IMHO, a very sensible step to take.

Legal Marijuana Debated as Belize Joins Regional Push on Drugs

Marijuana possession may be decriminalized in Belize as the Central American nation joins a list of countries from Mexico to Uruguay whose leaders have called for alternatives in the U.S.-led war on drugs.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow's government has appointed a committee to evaluate the decriminalization of up to 10 grams of marijuana, according to an e-mailed statement. Current legislation considers marijuana possession of less than 60 grams a criminal offense punishable by a fine up to $50,000 Belize dollars ($26,000) and as many as three years in prison, according to the statement.

"The word decriminalization means that the treatment of the infraction will be adjusted so that most of the detriments are removed or reduced," according to the statement. "This initiative is driven by increasing evidence that the current legislation clutters the courts and the prison with primarily a marginalized segment of our population."

Belize's move follows Uruguayan President Jos� M�jica's support for a plan last month to let the government sell marijuana, while Guatemalan President Otto P�rez Molina urged regional leaders to consider decriminalization to limit escalating drug violence in Central America. Enrique Pe�a Nieto, Mexico's recently elected president, said this month that he favors a legalization debate.

'BROAD DEBATE'

"I'm not saying we should legalize," Pe�a Nieto said in an interview on PBS NewsHour July 3. "But we should debate in Congress, in the hemisphere, and especially the U.S. should participate in this broad debate."

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who helped carry out a U.S.-led anti-narcotics strategy as his nation's defense chief until 2009, called for a legalization debate last year and likened the war on drugs to a stationary bike.

More than 47,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderón began an offensive against cartels in December 2006. Pe�a Nieto will succeed Calderón in December.

Drug cartels are among the biggest security threats facing Latin America and the Caribbean, General Douglas Fraser, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, said at an event in Miami today. Drug trafficking generates about $320 billion per year in profits, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report this week.

"The committee wishes to emphasize that the proposal is not to legalize the offense thereby purging it of all its penalties; it is merely to reduce and regulate," the Belize government release said. "This is further supported by international trends toward decriminalization."

Belize said it is taking public comments on its proposal through July 20.

Related:
Portugal Decriminalized All Drugs Eleven Years Ago and the Results Are Staggering

Bloomberg News

Belize moves to decriminalize marijuana

"...the proposal is not to legalize the offence, thereby purging it of all its penalties; it is merely to reduce and regulate." - ex-police minister, Doug Singh

The Barrow administration has appointed a committee to look into proposals for the decriminalization of marijuana in Belize. That committee, announced late this evening via a Government press release, is headed by Doug Singh, former Police Minister, who told Amandala this evening that they want to create a distinction between the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana by creating a special category of infractions for the possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana-that is equivalent, said Singh, to about 10 sticks of weed.

Other members of the marijuana decimalization committee are Donelle Hawke and Rhea Rogers of the Ministry of National Security, C.B. Hyde, Susan Fuller, YaYa Marin-Coleman, Jeremy Spooner and Katie Valk, said ex-Minister Singh. He told us that two of the committee members are admitted marijuana users.

The committee wrote two weeks ago to about 16 entities, including the Bar Association of Belize, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Belize Council of Churches, and gave them until Friday, July 13, to provide feedback-but none has to date, said Singh. He told us that the group will now be calling up these entities to request their positions on the decriminalization proposals.

The wider public, who are just being asked for comments this evening via the press release, will have the next four days to submit their feedback to the proposal. Their deadline is Friday, July 20.

"The Committee recognizes that the instant proposal for the decriminalization of small quantities of marijuana is a sensitive issue," said the Government release.

When we asked Singh why the short deadline for public feedback, he said that most people already know their positions on the matter and so he does not anticipate they would require much time to formulate their response. If the public feedback shows a sharp polarization in public opinion, he said, the committee would hold a public meeting to discuss the matter. It is possible for the decriminalization to take effect by the end of the year, Singh furthermore indicated.

The discussion has not touched on the use of marijuana for medical purposes, since that would open the debate to at least partially legalizing the drug, said Singh, in response to our query on this dimension of the debate.

He also indicated to us that consideration is being given to concerns over public smoking and smoking around children. The legislation would have to address smoking in public, and particularly around children, as well as possession in schools, he told us.

A press release issued by the Government this evening clarified that, "For the purpose of this exercise, the word decriminalization means that the treatment of the infraction will be adjusted so that most of the detriments are removed or reduced."

Pointing to international trends towards decriminalization, the release said probationary measures would be proposed as an alternative.

"It is also proposed that no criminal record be kept in the first instance and portions of the penalty be reserved for drug education," the release added.

Singh told us the National Drug Abuse Control Council (NDACC) will be the likely entity to do the drug education program, and a portion of the fines levied for marijuana possession would be earmarked for that program.

The Government informs that "current legislation treats the possession of under 60 grams of marijuana as a criminal offence and is punishable by a fine of up to $50,000 and/or up to three years imprisonment."

It added that, "This proposal is to decriminalize the possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana, which will then be subject to fines, mandatory drug education and no imprisonment."

During the national budget debate held in Parliament last week Wednesday, former Prime Minister Said Musa called out the authorities for "going after people for stick of weed...," but Prime Minister Dean Barrow took issue with him raising the decriminalization issue during the budget debate. "Are we going to get into debate on whether we should decriminalize marijuana?" Barrow retorted.

During the wrap-up of the debate Thursday night, Barrow again took aim at Musa, saying, "What was most instructive was his formula for solving the crime and violence problem in Belize; legalize marijuana; that is what the ex-prime minister came up with as his sole policy prescription for solving crime and violence. Legalize marijuana."

The press release issued this evening stated that, "The committee wishes to emphasize that the proposal is not to legalize the offence, thereby purging it of all its penalties; it is merely to reduce and regulate."

According to Singh, the marijuana decriminalization committee is about two months away from submitting its draft paper to Cabinet. If Cabinet approves the document, it would be channeled via the Ministry of National Security to the Attorney General's Ministry, which will draft the legislation. The draft laws will have to go back to Cabinet for vetting before being handed up to the National Assembly for passage.

Government said, "This initiative is driven by increasing evidence that the current legislation clutters the courts and the prison with primarily a marginalized segment of our population. The added impact of a permanent criminal record further disadvantages this already marginalized group as it establishes a barrier against meaningful employment."

Amandala wanted to know what the data are saying. Singh said, however, that he had requested statistics on the number of inmates in prison for minor marijuana possession charges; however, the Kolbe Foundation, which operates the prison, has not yet provided that information.

Singh went on to say that the fundamental principle is that this should be looked at as a substance abuse issue. He commented that only the people at the lowest levels of society tend to get caught with marijuana possession and that is unfair.

Public comments are invited by Douglas Singh, Committee Chair, to email address: [email protected]; or mailing address: # 1 Mapp Street; Belize City, Belize.

Government also informed that "...if you wish to make representation to the committee, please indicate in your written response and we will be pleased to accommodate your request."

Amandala

Former P.M. and attorney discuss decriminalization of marijuana

The idea of decriminalizing small quantities of marijuana, particularly immeasurable amounts often found in blunts commonly known as roaches, is taking center stage. The government has announced that former minister of police, Dough Singh, is leading a committee that will look into its decriminalization. It has long been argued that the cost of prosecuting someone for a stick of weed draws heavily on the wherewithal of law enforcement, as well as the court systems; resources that can be used in tracking criminals and solving more important cases. That argument is widely supported by marijuana users and criminal lawyers. In his presentation last Wednesday, former Prime Minister Said Musa, during the budget debate, revisited the suggestion of making legal certain measures of marijuana in order to relieve the police department, as well as the courts of their unnecessary burden.

Said Musa, Former Prime Minister

"We have a police department that spends its time going after little people with a stick of weed spending the courts time, resources and all that, when in fact why are they not concentrating their efforts in going after the big drug dons who facilitate this drug trade and corrupt the entire system. Surely the time has come to decriminalize that small quantity of marijuana, man, why don't you do it? Why don't you do it? Why go after the little people? Why go after the little people?"

Attorney Dickie Bradley, who has represented numerous clients charged with marijuana possession, says that decriminalization is an initiative that would be championed by the public simply because the charge is outdated.

Richard 'Dickie' Bradley, Criminal Lawyer

"Two or three weeks ago a number of persons were brought to the courts charged for having an unknown quantity of marijuana, meaning that the amounts were so miniscule that the scale can't show the weight but so long as the laboratory can somehow find a way to test the persons would, in fact, legally be in possession of marijuana, quantity unknown. And the unfortunate situation with that was there were several citizens, so how utterly ridiculous it is that persons in this modern age, apparently anything that happens in this court system because of the activity of our media who are always on the ball that persons photographs, their names, their addresses not only show up on the nightly news but then it gets into the internet and then your friends and family abroad and then it's a permanent record as well. We do not have the resources to be wasting the government's, the police's, the court's time to, in fact be charging persons for minor quantities of marijuana. We need to look at it from that angle first of all. Now let me punctuate what I am saying before it slips my mind and tell you that in fact there is too much drinking and too much smoking in Belize, that there is really a need for some serious committees to be formed so that especially our young people can turn to other activities. I believe that the vast majority of citizens, properly informed, would support a move that it makes no sense to make it a criminal matter for a person or persons to be found with small quantities of marijuana. It just does not make any sense."

Former Minister of Police Doug Singh is being joined by Donelle Hawke, Rhea Rogers of the Ministry of National Security, Ya-Ya Marin Coleman, Jeremy Spooner, Susan Fuller and Katie Valk on the committee.

Channel 5

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Decriminalization of marijuana possession getting support

The government has rolled out a proposal for the decriminalization of the possession of certain quantities of marijuana. It is moving at the speed of light; and from the looks of it, the proposal is getting support. A committee has been formed and while it was just announced on Monday, a deadline has been set for this Friday to receive public comments. Former Minister of Police Doug Singh was appointed months ago to chair the committee that would carefully examine the decriminalizing of marijuana possession. Since then a task force comprised of seven members, including two who admit to smoking weed, has been established to review the merits under which up to ten grams can be permitted. In addition to the financial and procedural toll that a criminal case for marijuana possession has had on the function of law enforcement, as well as the judiciary, Singh says that a police record, particularly one which results from possession of sums that cannot be weighed using the standard metric system, contributes to the unemployment statistics. Decriminalizing, he emphasized, does not necessarily mean legalizing.

 

Doug Singh, Chairman, Marijuana Decriminalization Committee

"It's part of an overall initiative to start to look at a second chance policy, so to speak. Sometime last year there was a legislative amendment that provided for the expunging of records. What we noted [was that there] were a lot of young people and not so young people who would either need to travel, needed to get a visa, they were looking for scholarships, they were looking for jobs. And in the case of jobs many of those people who were asked for police records are young. They may not have completed high school so they were looking for jobs as maybe messengers or security and they are asked for a police record. When they do [receive their records] there's maybe a small summary jurisdiction charge so we looked at the possibility of expunging those and passed legislation to do so. So after a certain number of years, if you're not a repeat offender, the record is expunged. Well we also need to look at what got those records there to begin with and start to evaluate really what should be criminal and non-criminal. We felt that within that possession framework we can look at a portion that can be decriminalized and I stress decriminalization because I think it's being misunderstood for legalization. Legal means that there is no penalty, decriminalizing means that there will be a penalty, it's just a different form of penalty. It's a penalty that will not or may not accrue a criminal record or incur a criminal record and it may not require or prescribe incarceration."

 

According to Singh, there is widespread support from various agencies to which the committee has tabled its proposal, including the Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Kolbe Foundation. Singh further notes that there are a number of inmates currently incarcerated at the Belize Central Prison for possession of marijuana under the newly prescribed limit.

 

Isani Cayetano

"In terms of looking at the judicial function and the court system, would you agree that a great deal of this entire situation has bogged down, sort of, on the function of the courts to prosecute and carry out justice in terms of dealing with miniscule amounts of marijuana?"

 

Doug Singh

"That's entirely possible. That is something that we've said for some time. I don't know what the empirical evidence is or the numerical evidence is. There is also the allegation that beyond the courts but within the jail system that you may have a number of people there who are occupying space and they may, many of them may be productive citizens other than for that particular problem. We are looking for those numbers. We have submitted input from the bar association, from the judiciary, we have submitted input from the Kolbe Foundation and I was assured from Kolbe at least, we've had some contact, that they will be submitting numbers of exactly who's in there. So I think we ought not to be dealing with it in principle, we need to look at the data and we need to analyze the data and we need to analyze the data and to allow us to make the best possible recommendation."

 

The Churches, we are told, are yet to firm up a position on whether or not they will lend support to the proposed decriminalization. As a point of interest, when we checked our website poll this evening, there was support, but not by a big margin for the government initiative.

Channel 5

Legal Marijuana Debated as Belize Joins Regional Push on Drugs

Marijuana possession may be decriminalized in Belize as the Central American nation joins a list of countries from Mexico to Uruguay whose leaders have called for alternatives in the U.S.-led war on drugs.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow's government has appointed a committee to evaluate the decriminalization of up to 10 grams of marijuana, according to an e-mailed statement. Current legislation considers marijuana possession of less than 60 grams a criminal offense punishable by a fine up to $50,000 Belize dollars ($26,000) and as many as three years in prison, according to the statement.

"The word decriminalization means that the treatment of the infraction will be adjusted so that most of the detriments are removed or reduced," according to the statement. "This initiative is driven by increasing evidence that the current legislation clutters the courts and the prison with primarily a marginalized segment of our population."

Belize's move follows Uruguayan President Jose Mujica's support for a plan last month to let the government sell marijuana, while Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina urged regional leaders to consider decriminalization to limit escalating drug violence in Central America. Enrique Pena Nieto, Mexico's recently elected president, said this month that he favors a legalization debate.

`Broad Debate'
"I'm not saying we should legalize," Pena Nieto said in an interview on PBS NewsHour July 3. "But we should debate in Congress, in the hemisphere, and especially the U.S. should participate in this broad debate."

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who helped carry out a U.S.-led anti-narcotics strategy as his nation's defense chief until 2009, called for a legalization debate last year and likened the war on drugs to a stationary bike.

More than 47,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon began an offensive against cartels in December 2006. Pena Nieto will succeed Calderon in December.

Drug cartels are among the biggest security threats facing Latin America and the Caribbean, General Douglas Fraser, the head of the U.S. Southern Command, said at an event in Miami today. Drug trafficking generates about $320 billion per year in profits, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report this week.

"The committee wishes to emphasize that the proposal is not to legalize the offense thereby purging it of all its penalties; it is merely to reduce and regulate," the Belize government release said. "This is further supported by international trends toward decriminalization."

Belize said it is taking public comments on its proposal through July 20.

Bloomberg

POLL:

Do you think the government should decriminalize small amounts of marijuana?
Please visit the link above to participate in this post's poll.

On cannabis

We're an independent country, 30 years and running. So theoretically we should be able to decide our own policies and programs. Sadly, we don't always. Sad truth, we can't always - geopolitical realities, economic constraints, and so on. It is, therefore, a welcome thing when we do.

The decision by the government to consider the decriminalization of marijuana is a bold and long overdue move. And while in the United States decriminalization of marijuana has been picking up steam over the last few years, and Argentina and Mexico just a few years ago approved a similar initiative, Belize, we believe, would be the first country in the Caribbean to so do.

In Jamaica there has been much talk. A national commission was set up in 2001 by the then People's National Party government, and while there is reportedly widespread support in Jamaica for decriminalization, the reality is that successive governments have not had the fortitude to implement it. Last year the Jamaica Labor Party government set up a committee of top government officials to review the issue, but again, nothing came of it. Elections came, and government changed.

In fairness to the Jamaicans, incidentally, citizens are rarely arrested and charged over the possession of small quantities of marijuana in their home, for personal use.

The truth is the United States leans heavily on smaller countries, particularly those like Jamaica, who is reportedly the largest marijuana exporter to the US, and Belize, which the US considers to be a major drugs transshipment point.

The US will be hard-pressed to be publicly disagreeable, though, not with all of 17 US states having already decriminalized marijuana, starting as far back as 1973 with Oregon. Their public position, as it were in the case of Jamaica last year, will be that it's an internal issue and so they cannot comment on either the debate or the outcome, but privately, pressure will be brought to bear.

It is in that vein, that we find the government's stated public comments on the issue bold, and welcoming, with the stated intention to decriminalize, "not to legalize the offence."

With legalization, marijuana use and production would be allowed, and government would then regulate and tax the product. Conceptually, farmers, manufacturers, and distributors would be taxed on cannabis production, potentially bringing a huge windfall to the treasury of the respective nation-state. But that's not what we are dealing with here.

Under the new proposal by the Belize government, people who are caught with small amounts of marijuana will still be punished. But the punishment would fit the crime.

At present if you are caught with less than 60 grams of marijuana, you can be fined up to $50,000, or imprisoned for 3 years, or both. Of course, no one is ever fined the maximum amount, but in any given year, there are over 400 prisoners on remand in the Hattieville Prison, the majority for cannabis possession, and the majority - young, black and poor. A charge for marijuana possession in Belize is not like a murder charge: there are convictions more times than not. 293 alone were convicted of cannabis possession in the first nine months of 2008.

What a conviction does is stigmatize these young men for life. A stain on your police record means you can't get a job, at least not so easily. Very few businesspersons will take a chance on you. Without a job, a life of crime oftentimes becomes your only way out. In prison you become "institutionalized;" chances are you will end up right back there before long. It becomes a cycle.

Under government's new proposal, if you are caught with 10 grams or less of marijuana then you will get what's akin to a traffic ticket. You will be subject to a fine, presumably $100 or so and mandatory drug education, but "no imprisonment." Note that 10 grams is considerably less than the amount decriminalized in most of the aforementioned 17 US states.

We will expect there to be stricter punishments for repeat offenders, for marijuana possession on or near school grounds, and for people smoking marijuana in public, especially in the presence of children and adolescents. There has to be.

We would also hope that under this new proposal we would step up our drug prevention and drug treatment efforts. The NDACC has to be as ubiquitous as the GSU.

There can be no denying: marijuana has harmful effects, the full extent of which is debatable. But what is known for sure is that it's a drug that temporarily causes lethargy, memory impairment, loss of motor skills, increased heart rate, and so on and so forth.

And while we don't know of any case of marijuana overdose in humans, and it is not known to induce violent tendencies in its users, marijuana does increase the likelihood of accidents when driving under its influence.

In other words, we are not recommending that our people, especially our young, go out and "blaze a blunt" - not at all. But we are dealing with the real here. Thousands of Belizeans still smoke marijuana, harmful effects and all. And among those thousands, there are many people in high places who smoke, but they never ever end up behind bars. The law, as presently constructed and implemented, unfairly targets a segment of our population that has long been marginalized and deprived. Changing that is not only just, it's long overdue.

The question then arises - what about all those hundreds, if not thousands, of youths who over the years have been tagged with a tarnished police record? What can we do about them? And we are not talking about repeat offenders here. We are talking about the Southside youth who got into trouble once with a stick or two of weed, and today he can't get a job, can't tend his family, because of this blot on his resume. Something has to be done; those records should be expunged. We think it's the right thing to do.

There is also an economic component to this move. It is a well documented fact that the decriminalization of marijuana saves, and earns participating governments money. There are fewer prisoners to house, less time and resources spent on processing and prosecuting youths, and more fines to be collected.

In this regard, there is something to watch. Three years ago the prison population was in excess of 1500, and Kolbe's budget from government was $7.1 million. Today, by their own admission, the prison population is around 1300, and that budget has inched up to $7.2 million. That's just not right. Those savings should go to youth programs, with a portion going to drug education and drug treatment programs.

Of course, not everyone will agree with decriminalization. Some will say marijuana is a "gateway" drug, and that decriminalizing it will increase the usage; some will even say that crime will go up. There is no evidence, as far as we know, to support those arguments, and as we have pointed out, there are a number of states and countries that have done this before. The studies are ample.

The government, in its press release dated Monday, July 16, had indicated that Friday, July 20, 2012, is the deadline for concerned citizens to express their views on this "sensitive issue." We believe the time is too short. The government will need to extend the date, and possibly hold some town meetings. There is quite a bit of misinformation out there. For sure, this will not be law overnight. There is a process to follow. It is written.

Amandala