BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 25, 2018– The Leader of the Opposition People’s United Party (PUP), Hon. John Briceño, has come under the twin fires of the state and the church for his call to legalize marijuana so that Belize could reap the economic benefits from exports of the substance.

Hon. Briceño, area representative for the Orange Walk Central constituency, made the remarks during his weekly address that was aired on the PUP radio and television station Positive Vibes last weekend.

In his remarks, he said, “Canada just legalized marijuana for recreational use. 32 countries worldwide already have some legalized form of marijuana use. This is big news, for it provides an opportunity for the creation of a new industry in Belize.”

Briceño went on to say, “While those in support of it said it would be one way to take the whole issue out of the black-market, out of the hands of criminals and put it in a place where it will benefit others, here is where I see an opportunity and why I am speaking about it in this week’s message. Benefitting us as a country with a struggling economy, we have to open our eyes to every opportunity that can create jobs for our people.”

“Today, the legal marijuana industry worldwide is a $144 billion industry. Think about it, something we burn and destroy every chance we get could earn us in the millions if we could only put the proper mechanism in place to develop it legally,” Briceño added.

‘Just think of what the harvesting of legal marijuana could do for our small farmers. As a leader in this country, I want to grow and build on our mixed economy model, and [see] if we could become a part of this rapidly growing industry … The opportunities in this $144 billion industry are endless and we have to take advantage of it. I am putting together a team of people from my party to start the research and discussion to develop a plan,” he said.

Briceño’s figure of 144 billion may be off, depending on what he is basing it on, but Forbes Magazine reported in an article in March, captioned “Legal Cannabis Industry Poised For Big Growth, In North America And Around The World”, that “The largest group of cannabis buyers will be in North America, going from $9.2 billion in 2017 to $47.3 billion a decade later. The largest growth spread, however, is predicted within the rest-of-world markets, from $52 million spent in 2017 to a projected $2.5 billion in 2027.”

Although the Opposition Leader stressed that he would put together a team to start research and discussion to develop a plan, his mere utterance in support of legalizing marijuana was enough for the government to “burn fire” on him via a government press release, issued on Tuesday, October 23.

“Cabinet, at its meeting today, condemned the Leader of the Opposition’s statement calling on Belize to completely legalize the drug trade in our country, and in particular to grow marijuana for export to the United States of America,” said the opening paragraph of the government release.

The release castigated the Leader of the Opposition by stating,”The sudden position adopted by the People’s United Party via its leader is simplistic, ignorant and downright dangerous.”

Apparently, the government release ignored Briceño’s reference to “research and discussion to develop a plan” when it characterized it as “hurry-come-up idea,” that “would have required a level of thought, study, detail and societal consultation that is altogether missing…”

Briceño remarked about Canada’s recent legalization of marijuana, but this is not noted in the government press release. Instead, the release focused on exportation to the United States.

“But even more serious, is the notion of exporting marijuana to the U.S. would constitute the very serious offense of illegal drug trafficking under American federal law. While a few states in the U.S. have legalized marijuana, it is still illegal under federal law. It is an activity that U.S. law enforcement authorities are relentlessly trying to interdict,” said the government release.

The government release said that the US government requires producing countries to cooperate with them and that we would be declared a pariah state and would be visited with punitive measures from the US.

The release said that if the US legalizes marijuana they would not need to buy from Belize, because they would use their own technology to produce their own marijuana.

The release ends saying, “The Government of Belize completely rejects this hasty proposal that has serious implications for national security and international relations.”

Following the government’s hastily issued, dismissive release, the National Evangelical Association of Belize (NEAB) also weighed in, taking Briceño to task for his marijuana legalization call in a press release issued yesterday, Wednesday, that it captioned: “Statement on marijuana and increase of horrendous crimes.”

“The National Evangelical Association of Belize notes with greatest alarm the misguided comments of the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Johnny Briceño, this week in calling for a legal marijuana industry in Belize. His position clearly confirms our statement at the decriminalization of marijuana a year ago – that this is merely an incremental step towards full marijuana legalization where some Government and business leaders seek to profiteer from weed.

“Since decriminalizing marijuana, murders of young men in Belize City have increased, cartel activity has increased, drug planes have increased, and marijuana trafficking arrests are happening weekly, almost always together with guns. Our convictions have been strengthened by the recent October 3rd University of Montreal report stating ‘even infrequent use of marijuana affects cognitive abilities in teens more than we previously believed.’ Other recent studies show the increase of traffic accidents in all the U.S. states that legalized marijuana,” the NEAB release said.

Although the NEAB has attributed some of the horrendous crimes that have occurred in Belize to the decriminalization and use of marijuana, the NEAB did not support these broad assertions with any evidence.

An assertion that the decriminalization of marijuana has resulted in the landing of more drug planes shows ignorance about the transshipment point that Belize has become for the moving of South American cocaine destined for the United States..

“As our nation was shocked with a horrendous EMO, weed-induced ritual murder in the West, and the rape/violation of a 5-year-old child left traumatized and bleeding, we are appalled that the Leader of the Opposition would neglect to address such moral atrocities, and instead focus on solving our economic problems with a marijuana industry,” the NEAB release went on to say.

“We call upon all churches, all Belizeans, that we not back down, that we press forward for what we know is right in God’s eyes and guide our beloved Belize into God’s blessing”, the release concludes.

So far, Belize’s largest denomination, the Roman Catholic Church, has not weighed in on the issue of the Leader of the Opposition’s call to legalize marijuana to create economic opportunities for Belize.