By Brianna Bennett

Copyright greaterbelize

Church Leaders Kick off “Hope Not Dope” Campaign in Caye Caulker

There’s less than three weeks left until residents of Caye Caulker cast their vote to decide whether cannabis should be legalized on the island. It’s an important decision, one that may have national implications on Belize, and some Belizeans are voicing their concerns on the matter. On Wednesday, a group of pastors kicked off the “Hope Not Dope” Campaign to inform residents about the possible consequences of the legalization of cannabis on the island. News Five’s Britney Gordon has more details on the situation.

Britney Gordon, Reporting

On October eighth, residents of Caye Caulker will make history by participating in Belize’s first-ever cannabis referendum. It began with just one petition and dream to introduce a new industry that can generate much-needed revenue for the benefit of island residents. Although they were able to garner enough signatures to proceed with a referendum, not everyone is in favor. This week, church and community leaders kicked off the “Hope Not Dope” campaign to inform residents about the possible negative outcomes of creating a marijuana industry on the island. Louis Wade Jr., of the National Evangelical Association of Belize, was invited by fellow pastors to help organize the movement.

On the Phone: Louis Wade Jr., National Evangelical Association of Belize

“The feedback that we are getting is that it’s a resounding no because it, the community has already invested millions of dollars in family friendly tourism group tourism, et cetera, and it cannot have both. Either it is going to be family friendly or it’s going to embrace marijuana. And so their investments are already on the ground. What are they going to do about that?”

Church leaders argue that the industry would compromise the family-friendly atmosphere on the island, which may affect tourism numbers. However, village councilor Ilya Rosado, who spearheaded the petition for a referendum says otherwise. He maintains that if regulated, the industry would help solve some of the problems faced on the island.

Ilya Rosado, Councilor, Caye Caulker Village Council

“He spoke about us losing about five thousand seven hundred visitors. From the data that I have, in some years we’ve received around one hundred and seventy thousand visitors to Caye Caulker. So his figure represents about three point five percent of the total visitors to this community. And really and truly what I’m looking at is not a sort of like new product or service to offer to tourism, but a new industry on a whole where we can have. Different sources of revenue that are not directly correlating with tourism.”

Wade and others behind the ‘Hope Not Dope’ campaign say a marijuana industry could take Caye Caulker down the wrong road, one that threatens the very tourism economy the island depends on.

On the Phone: Louis Wade Jr.

“The moral aspects of it and the beneficial versus non-beneficial aspects of it are secondary and tertiary issues. The primary issues is based upon what the referendum is asking. Which is whether or not they want to be the hub of the marijuana industry. And so that hub is going to bring in a specific type of tourist. It’s not like Caye Caulker is offering a product. Is the product the product is the people, the culture and the streets and the village. And somebody’s coming to say, let’s turn your village into a marijuana paradise. What will the answer be from the common-sense average person on the street who loves their community? You and I will fly to Caye Caulker and we will fly back home. Caye Caulker residents live there.”

The pending cannabis referendum has received pushback from government officials, including Prime Minister John Briceno, who shared that the government will take steps to amend the Belize Referendum Act following this event. On the other hand, Minister of Tourism, Anthony Mahler, has expressed his support for a possible cannabis industry, claiming it may be beneficial to Belize.

Ilya Rosado

“There’s this vocal, group of people online saying no and everything like that. But on the ground, it’s a small community. I walk and ride on my bicycle through the community every day and still say good morning to the same people, even to some of the people who are, for my knowledge are going to vote no, and that’s fine. The idea is that I want people to make a choice, and that is what democracy is all about. We want to be able to make a choice, and this is the first time people have actually been given a choice to either vote yes or no, and whatever the outcome is. I think that’s a wonderful thing.”

The vote is yet to be determined and for now, the work of the “Hope Not Dope” campaign continues. The referendum will be held at the Caye Caulker R.C. School from seven a.m. to six p.m. Britney Gordon for News Five.