According to a press release, the Ministry Of New Growth Industries reactivated its hemp industry oversight committee on June 3rd to, quote " Discuss pivotal developments in the hemp sector, including the role of agencies in monitoring hemp developments in Belize and legislation."
So what - if anything - does this mean for the industry's stalled legalization of marijuana bill? The minister of new growth industries answered our questions today.
Kareem Musa, Minister of New Growth Industries
"As you know, cannabis is separated into different sections. There is hemp and then there is cannabis with THC right now. Hemp has always been legal since 2017. Hemp has been legal industrial hemp, and there was a move to create an industry around hemp. What we encountered when we came into office in 2020 is that licenses were issued in a very haphazard manner. A lot of the farmers were not knowledgeable of the hemp plant on how to grow it and the seeds that were actually conducive to growing in Belize and so that is now the new shift. We are now going into research development particularly partnering with the ministry of Agriculture for research and development of hemp and focusing on manufacturing because at the end of the day you can have cultivation licenses for hemp but if you are not producing, and you are not converting your product into a value added product then that is where the issue comes in and so the focus moving forward would be in processing manufacturing and realizing the potential of the various aspects of the hemp plant and the products come from it."
