Churches Reach Threshold for Marijuana Petition Signatures

It happened in lightning-fast fashion at a time when many Belizeans were not at home for Easter, but the churches got it done – they have collected the requisite number of signatures to trigger a referendum on the topic that has kept them on the offensive for the past few years: whether Belize should have a legalized marijuana industry. Today, News Five spoke with Pastor Louis Wade of the National Evangelical Association of Belize and Father Tony Anderson of the Catholic Church who are on the Churches Referendum Team told News Five that in the event that some names are eliminated, they are now trying to get more people to sign.

Pastor Louis Wade

Pastor Louis Wade, NEAB Task Force Representative

“Just in case our vetting petitions – there may be a few issues by the Elections and Boundaries Department that we can easily overcome. We are trying to learn the lessons of the Ocean petition drive but we have to admit there was a recent re-registration, which gave most people a card. That card contains their signature and it also contains their electoral I.D. number and so it’s possible for us to do what Ocean could not do, which is to do an initial vetting and that people are far more cognizant of their I.D., they’re far more cognizant of the process, because they have gone before us. Also, we have had hundreds of volunteers from across the country; some of them are still out there getting additional signatures from across denominational lines.  Even though we were in a very holy time, when you think about Good Friday, and Easter Sunday – these are the highest holy times of the year for the church. Yet people found the opportunity to pray, to give, to work, to bring us to where we are.”

Father Tony Anderson

Father Tony Anderson, Catholic Task Force Representative

“It was a very short notice, alright, we needed nineteen thousand signatures and in like two weeks’ time. We had our first push because we understood that the Monday of Holy Week was going to be our deadline and we had about thirteen thousand signatures by that time, within about six days. And then it was revealed to us that we had another deadline of Good Friday, so we had five days to get five thousand signatures and we’re praising God. We’re celebrating, we think of it as an Easter victory because against all odds and against all historic precedent, five thousand signatures were gotten in five days.”