Health Minister Speaks on Possibility of Legalizing Medical Marijuana

Pablo Marin

According to research, usage of marijuana can ease pain, nausea/vomiting, hot flashes, loss of appetite, anxiety, insomnia which are symptoms of breast cancer causes. The idea of legalizing marijuana for medical use is not farfetched but Health Minister Pablo Marin says it is something that should be looked at very closely before any decision is made.

Pablo Marin, Minister of Health

“Well, I think you have to look at the situation in a whole. First marijuana is an illegal substance. It can affect our people and if you open this to the public, how are we going to this? We have to look at the first step. You can’t just jump and say legalize marijuana, let’s start to sell marijuana to different countries. How are going to provide the way forward on selling it? Who will plant? Where will you put that money? How will you be able to work along? And you the US is always watching everything that we are doing so we have to be very cautious on what we do.” 

Hipolito Novelo

“Isn’t there any consideration in legalizing the herb for medicinal purposes?”

Pablo Marin

“That needs a lot of studies and I do not know if we have the capacity at the moment for us to jump to that.”

This afternoon, the National Evangelical Association of Belize fired off a release against the proposed legalization of marijuana. The association says the John Briceño’s comments are misguided “since the decriminalizing of 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.” The association, however, does not offer any evidence that the decriminalization of marijuana is linked to increase of crimes.