Weekly Report - 19 July 2012 (WR-12-28)

BELIZE | Decriminalising marijuana. In the latest sign of the regional shift on drug policy, the Belizean government of Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced this week that it had appointed a committee responsible for drafting proposals to decriminalise small quantities of marijuana. While underlining that “the proposal is not to legalise the offence…but merely to reduce and regulate”, an official press release revealed that the government is proposing to decriminalise the possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana, so that anyone caught with the drug would be subject to fines and mandatory drug education but would not face imprisonment. Under current legislation, the possession of under 60 grams of marijuana is treated as a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to B$50,000 (US$25,512) and/or up to three years imprisonment. Anything above this amount is catalogued as trafficking.