Decriminalization Vs Legalization

Derrick Stuart

According to the committee, the decriminalization of the possession of marijuana is not to be confused with the legalization of the drug. Even if it is passed into law, the sale, purchase and cultivation of marijuana is still very much a crime that carries stiff penalties. But another factor addressed by the committee before making its final report was the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Singh maintained that the scope of the report dealt solely with the decriminalization of up to ten grams of cannabis. One resident, who has seen the positive impact of the use of marijuana for health reasons, is of the opinion that the scope of the report is limited.

Derrick Stuart, Advocating for Legalization of Marijuana & Medicinal Marijuana

“The reason why I am so adamant about this sir. Mt mother is an epileptic, my daughter has asthma, my wife has asthma; this is personal to me…this is no government program. For me the medicinal part of it…for you to have gone through this two and a half years of work—I am also a youth advocate—I think you did half the job. Over two and a half years is wasted time if you ask me. No disrespect to you people, but you did half the work that could have been done. If there have been so many reports on the medical aspect of it, why was that not ventured into more in depth? So yes, there will be more work to do and I would really appreciate that you revisit that aspect of it and please broaden the scope of getting people involved who have information please.”

Doug Singh

Doug Singh, Chairman, Decriminalization of Marijuana Committee

“There is an extensive review in the document of the medical literature and the extensive review of the medical literature, I think we tried to be fair. In fact, quite a bit of the medical literature that was put in there, quite a bit was put in there from—what’s the organization—Normal. And Normal is an advocate group for the legalization of marijuana. They were very balanced in context of it. The report reflects the fact that people like your family, who suffers from symptoms caused by other ailments that it can be alleviated. We don’t dismiss that and in fact there were members in the group that are very sympathetic with your points of view. I would have liked to see the recommendations go further.”

The report is available at mybelize.net