Musa Still Aiming to Legalize Cannabis in Belize

It’s been over six years since Belize decriminalized the possession of up to ten grams of cannabis. Last year, the Ministry of New Growth Industries hinted at the possibility of full legalization. Today, we caught up with Minister Kareem Musa for an update. He admitted that progress has been slow but emphasized the many potential benefits of bringing the cannabis industry to Belize.

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of New Growth Industries

“There’s no update on it but I know that 2025 is an election year and it is my hope as minister that we’ll be able to get that on the ballot. I feel that it opened up an appetite for innovation within the private sector. Looking at new industries that might not be your traditional industries aquaculture or sugar and citrus and bananas, I see that it definitely opened up a whole realm of possibilities. It does require, however, that we amend a lot of legislation to assist industries like the cohune industry in moving forward. And so I think that while it is that the main focus of creating the new industry was to see how we can introduce cannabis as one of those industries, I think there are so many other bright ideas that have come forward and hopefully even the orange economy, the film industry, the music industry, these can be put as priorities in the next administration.”