by Nuri Muhammad

Mon. Feb. 6, 2023

The government had a responsibility to promote the education campaign it said it would have launched to accompany its proposed legalization of a cannabis industry in Belize. Two years ago, Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. Kareem Musa announced the government’s plan to develop an industry to monetize the herb which grows so plentifully in Belize but with no economic benefits to the country. The new portfolio overseen by Hon. Musa, named New Growth Industries, proposed to be a new income-generating tool especially for those poor youths who for decades depended on the illegal sale of cannabis to make a living. The proposition was touted as a panacea, not only for generating income for the poor, but also as a huge injection into the national economy that would benefit from the export potential and a waiting tourist market.

It all sounded good in interviews and soundbites, but there was no sustained education campaign as was promised by the planners to inform Belizeans of the pros and cons of the controversial proposal. The planners were not pro-active in their strategy.

When the Church began its campaign to say ‘no’ to the legalization proposal, the government’s reaction showed that they were caught with their proverbial ‘pants down’ and not prepared to offer a counter argument to the ‘moral question’ being posed by the Church. This placed the government in a reactionary and defensive mode. The government then capitulated when the Church gathered enough signatures to trigger a referendum. In hindsight, had the initiative planners launched the promised education campaign at the initial announcement of the proposed legalization two years ago, the outcome of the Church’s campaign may have been different. “A stitch in time, saves nine”, they say. The government’s failure in tackling the ‘moral question’ head-on in the beginning of the proposed legalization process may have contributed to the success of the Church’s campaign.

The initiative planners failed to address many of the concerns and questions people had about the implications of the new law and how it would affect quality of life in Belize; they gave no attention, and so these issues were never sufficiently addressed. Had those matters been addressed through that promised education campaign and people had a better understanding of the issue, perhaps there would have been a different reaction when the Church started its ‘fear’ campaign.

Public education and consultation is the way to good governance. To pass any major legislation, especially one as controversial as the proposed Cannabis Law, a buy-in from the public can only come through an informative, fact-based and sustained education campaign, broken down into “small change” so that the ordinary Belizean will understand.

If the initiative called New Growth Industries is to become a reality, its planners will have to go back to the drawing board and come up with an effective education campaign strategy that will move the initiative from its present defensive mode and return it to a platform that shows the benefits to Belize while addressing the realistic dangers that go with widespread drug use, especially among our youths. Only a pro/con conversation will bring consensus on the way forward.