Tomorrow just under 1500 eligible voters on the island of Caye Caulker will be able to vote on whether they want to legalize marijuana in their village.
The question voters will see on the ballot says: "Should the Government of Belize pass legislation to create a responsible, regulated, and taxable legal cannabis industry on the island of Caye Caulker, with a portion of the revenue going directly for the benefit of Caye Caulker and its residents?"
Yesterday, the man who first framed that question and is the driving force behind that referendum held a press conference with the Minister of New Growth Industries at his side. Jules Vasquez was there:
Inside the Ochuna Restaurant - proponents of tomorrow's marijuana referendum gathered yesterday with the Minister of New Growth Industries for a press conference. The head table even included a doctor's endorsement:
Dr Joel Cervantez, Neurologist
"Quite simply, there is a place for medical cannabis from a scientific point of view."
The cannabis crusader in chief is village councillor Ilya Rosado - he says this is about more money for his community:
Ilya Rosado, Caye Caulker Town Councillor
"We receive $5,000 a month from the government, which used to be $4,000. We just managed to lobby for $5,000. Our staff payroll is between $6,000 to $7,000 a week. So the maths are not mathing. So we need more revenue."
"Caye Caulker, if we are going to do this, if the people are going to make this choice, then they deserve at least 50% of the revenue. This revenue will then be directed directly back into education, infrastructure, health care."
"For many people, this is controversial. For me, it's a simple economic issue where I see people who work in the best resorts, or some of the best resorts in the country, go back home to no electricity, no water. And I'm supposed to be responsible for these people. I need to be able to find new solutions because the solutions that we have right now are clearly not working."
And the solution he proposes is a cash industry where his village gets 50% of the proceeds:
Ilya Rosado, Caye Caulker Town Councillor
"So with a cash-only industry, we have the ability to make sure that we take this cash, get our share, then share with the government 50/50."
Jules Vasquez
"Have all the steps been thought through of the complications that arise when you're dealing only in cash, including banking de-risking?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"So very good question, Jules. When it comes to security, and as you will notice from the original legislation in 2022, there are actually security licenses. But in addition to security licenses for cannabis facilities, there are also requirements across the world in terms of how you set up your facilities with cameras, with fence, everything that offers the best protection. Because if you look at Belize Bank, Belize Bank is on the island, they have cash inside the bank, far more cash than a cannabis facility might have. And so if a bank can have cash, why cannot a facility?"
"So it has to have at a minimum the same security as a bank, but even better when I said camera systems in terms of high fences, that sort of thing."
And while that would be a first - so would the idea of an law enforcement policy for a single village:
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"And I know a lot of people are saying, but how can you just have cannabis on Caye Caulker? Shouldn't that be a national law? Well, the simple answer to that question is every day we pass laws in this country, specialized pieces of legislation that are called carveouts, whether it is the Norwegian island in the south, the Harvest Caye Act, whether it is the Free Zone Act, whether it is designated processing areas or EPZs as they were known, whether it's protected areas that we are protecting, there are carveouts in the legislation every day. And so what this would mean then is that it has to pass firstly cabinet and thereafter the House of Representatives and thereafter the Senate."
"And what would that mean? That would mean the entire country continues with 10 grams legal, but the island of Caye Caulker would have a cultivation facility and it would have a dispensary and it would have an area for restaurant licenses."
"It would have regulations that would be solely for Caye Caulker until we go national. And so it's a similar type thing as you have in the United States where states have legalized it. The only difference in Belize is it will require the House of Representatives and the Senate to approve this particular preposition."
It's a long and steep climb - but Wednesday is the first step - and the question is whether Rosado's common sense campaign can outdo the fire and brimstone brought out by the other side - the Christian pastors opposing the vote?:
Ilya Rosado, Caye Caulker Town Councillor
"I have a plan in place and I do have a budget that I received from local businesses and I know I have support, but the thing is, the thing is that there has been so much stigma that these people don't want to be mentioned."
"These people don't want to say that they support me. I'm at the point where I feel saddened by that fact, that it has been so divisive. My objective is to get the people who support me, some of that being my family and my friends, to mobilize, we call people, we talk to them, I reach out to them personally."
"And on that day, I will be there for the entire time, making sure that I can either speak to them, I can either appeal to their sense of reason, and whether it's a yes or no, what really matters is that I do my best to educate them."
"So I do have a small budget to be able to get some carts to move people around, but what I think is more important given this stigma is that I can have And what I've been doing is having one-to-one conversation with them."
"Hopefully my plan succeeds. I started this. I'm going to see it through till the end, no matter the result."
