Johnny Briceno has apparently started a weekly address in which he blows hot air to those who have time to waste. We need to be honest, in those weeks where he has made his address we had not paid much attention. After all, most everything he says makes absolutely no sense. But this week we had to because this time around, more than not making any sense, Johnny fell off the stupidity platform.
First off, let us be clear, we really do not think that Johnny writes these presentations and the first clue to this was the very opening statement where he stated that he would speak on something he recently read. Johnny reads? Really! We could have been fooled. Anyway, it appears that if he is not reading his speech writer is certainly keeping up with regional events, and by this we mean the legalization of marijuana use in Canada.
Seems to us that the speech writer is trying to appeal to the masses and what better way than to say that the PUP will legalize marijuana. By so doing, the writer had Johnny go on and on about the possibility of exporting marijuana as a new industry in Belize. He pulled out all manner of statistics from countries that have legalized marijuana and explained how this would help us grow our economy. He went so far as to say that marijuana growth and exportation would be new and innovative industries.
The entire episode was stunning, to say the least. Here you have the Leader of the Opposition, without thinking of the consequences, claiming that he wants to legalize marijuana. Apparently, he has forgotten about the U.S. Federal laws. It could not have been made more clear to him of how asinine his suggestion was than a statement which the government issued on Tuesday. A portion of it reads as follows:
“The sudden position adopted by the People’s United Party via its leader is simplistic, ignorant and downright dangerous. Cabinet notes that even if the Leader of the Opposition had limited his proposal to Belize’s drug production solely for internal consumption, this would have required a level of thought, study, detail and societal consultation that is altogether missing from the hurry-come-up idea.”
But even more serious, is the notion of exporting marijuana to the U.S. would constitute the very serious offense of illegal drug trafficking under American federal law. While a few states in the U.S. have legalized marijuana, it is still illegal under federal law. It is an activity that U.S. law enforcement authorities are relentlessly trying to interdict. U.S. Government agencies also require that producing countries cooperate with them, and the Drug Enforcement Authority in particular, in making every effort to stamp out the cross-border trade. Any perceived lack of seriousness on our part results in U.S. naming and shaming, declaring us a pariah state and visiting concrete punitive measures on Belize. The correspondent banking challenges already put serious pressure on Belize’s financial services industry and would only worsen with the legalization of marijuana. Furthermore, this would almost certainly result in a crackdown on the issuance of visas to Belizeans.” See full statement on page 5.
The release, having put things in perspective, we move to Kareem Musa’s role in all of this. Based on Facebook postings, it would seem that he is egging Johnny on. We are not it the least bit surprised at this. We are almost certain that his maneuvers are in no way designed to actually support the Leader of the Opposition. We are in fact convinced that he is doing so in order to lead him down the wrong path. That path of course will inevitable end with Briceno’s demise and the rise of Musa, the younger, as the new leader.
