And we also asked the CEO his views on the bill. He explained that while lower prison numbers are always a good sign, that doesn't necessarily mean it's beneficial to the men and women who would have gone to prison for marijuana related charges. He told us that that's because they won't get the chance to overcome their addiction, which is the purpose of the prison.
Virgilio Murillo - CEO, Kolby Foundation
"Remember we're in the business of rehabilitation and we try to rehabilitate people who have addictions, whether it is drugs or alcohol or otherwise, that is the business we are in. So, we certainly will not be in support of legalization of drugs. One of the things I will tell you from my 19 years almost at the prison, drugs is one of the main contributors to crime, of course alcohol is too and that is legal, but you don't want to add to that in my perspective. I see it as a situation like selling ice cream in a gym, you put people to shed the fat but you have ice cream right next door so they can go eat and put it back on. Certainly based on what we've seen with the drug possession charges, it has already dipped, I'm certain maybe we'll be looking at drug trafficking starting to dip too and eventually we'll reach a point where there will be absolutely no one being sent to prison for drug possession as well because remember the drug possession charge is still there for anybody who has in excess of 10 grams, I'm not too sure what is being tabled because I really haven't read the legislation or the amendment but I image based on what I'm hearing on the news that eventually if you're going to be getting permits to plant and permits to possesses, I image people will hardly be coming to prison. I'm not too sure they will have a ceiling with respect to what is the quantity, the planters can deal with and what is the ceiling the retailers can keep on their person at any one time because I listen to the news and I'm gathering that pretty much we might reach a point where it's going to be hard to even convict somebody for possession and drug trafficking, that is what I am interpreting."
He also added that the legalization may lead to more crimes down the road.
Virgilio Murillo
"I don't want to narrow down this thing just to marijuana, the whole issue of addiction can be just about anything. If you feel like you need something that cost you money, and you cannot do without that item, that is an addiction and we understand the economic situation Belize is in, we understand that majority of the people in prison are poor people, I did a check the other day and it was like around 80% of the people are poor people, they are below the margin if you want to put it that way and when you have to find money to buy drugs, whether it's 2 dollars a day or 5 dollars a day, the monies you spend on drugs can be used to pay your child's school fee, it can be used to put food on the table, those kinds of things. We have inmates in this prison who are literally have their children participating in school feeding program that hardly can pay their school fees and that kind of thing but there are in the prison smoking marijuana as they get an opportunity, as soon as they get a little deposit made into their personal account from their loved ones, it just doesn't make any sense for me. Inevitably when you run broke, it means you have to go and steal, it means you have to go and commit some kind of offense, rob, maybe kill in the process and that's not what we're about, we're about rehabilitation and that is why I gave the analogy just now is like selling ice cream in a gym."
And while the minister hopes the bill will curb crime, Murillo says it's something we have to wait and see because the fact is that even with the license, people may get greedy.
Virgilio Murillo
"There's a thing called greed and this is where it gets very dicey because yes I know that the drugs definitely contributes a lot to crime and violence all together and that has to do with the greed aspect of it too. We can see in the streets that really there's one person who might want to dominate the trade, my perspective and I don't want this to be interpreted as though I am disagreeing with the minister because everything in life is about perspective, it is how you view things. My perspective is that only time will tell, I personally thing that it might because I have no data to justify what I'm saying but it might contribute to maybe more violence, especially when we're dealing with people who get greedy about the whole business because it's about competition now after this. I see the economic benefits for the country because like the minster rightly pointed out, there are smuggling in from Mexico, so all the monies get to go outside to Mexico where if it is produced in Belize, then naturally the money gets to stay here, so I can see the economic aspect. Now whether it's going to offset or outweigh the other issue, that is yet to be seen, I don't want to make a prediction on that because like I tell you, who knows, only if you try something then you will see what happens."
