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Caye Caulker residents could be going to a referendum on the issue of marijuana legalization as early as October 2025. As we reported on Monday, the group Legalize It Caye Caulker successfully petitioned the Governor General to trigger a referendum by garnering 365 signatures, representing 26.84 percent of registered voters on the island. The referendum will pose the question “Should the Government of Belize pass legislation to create a responsible, regulated, and taxable legal cannabis industry on the island of Caye Caulker, with a portion of the revenue going directly for the benefit of Caye Caulker and its residents?” Minister of Governance, Henry Usher says the Referendum Act sets a time by which the Governor General must set a date after receiving confirmation of the successful petition.
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Governance: “It is a big issue. It has triggered a referendum and the next step is that the governor general has within 30 days to set a date for the referendum by issuing a writ of referendum. So the governor general will issue the writ of referendum, which is something similar to a writ of election. It specifies the date in which the referendum will be held and I think that the legislation says that it can’t be held less than 30 days from the date when the writ is issued. So it has to be 30 days or more from the date when the writ is actually issued by the governor general. So we’re waiting to hear back from the governor general now as to what will be the next step. In terms of election and boundaries office, they have to prepare for the referendum and of course that entails having a similar to, it would be like in this case a village council election almost in the village of Caye Caulker because it’s only the registered voters in Caye Caulker that would be able to vote. Now they can vote in Belize Rural South but San Pedro also votes in Belize Rural South, but they would not be able to vote in this referendum because they don’t live and are not registered in Caye Caulker Village. It’s going to happen very soon and as I said the date that the governor general sets can’t be less than 30 days. It can be 30 days and so we can be looking at something probably in October or it cane be longer than that.”
The referendum, if held, would give the government insight into how Caye Caulker residents feel about regulated marijuana, but it would require adjustments on multiple fronts including enforcement. According to Minister Usher, there are greater implications at play as Belize already has legislation that governs marijuana nationally, but the referendum speaks only to Caye Caulker. He noted that the government will be monitoring the situation closely and seeking advice from the Attorney General on the possible impacts of the referendum.
Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Governance: “We have national laws. We don’t have laws that are specific to areas, to regions, and so on. And so certainly there is a school of thought that’s saying that a local election can only deal with local issues. It should not deal with national issues. For instance let’s say if the residents of Caye Caulker went to a referendum to say that they did not want to have any vehicles on their island, only golf carts. That’s something that would only be local to them. It’s something that certainly they would be able to look at or if they would say we don’t want any more piers on our island. I mean, again, those are all local issues that they would be looked at. But what this particular question has are national issues not only in terms of cannabis legislation but they also talk about the distribution of tax dollars. They talk about a certain percentage going to the benefit of Caye Caulker. So it all has to do with national issues. We certainly will have to be guided by the attorney general. As I said, these are national issues that would have to be looked at, looking at national laws, looking at the national budget and so on. And so the attorney general will have to advise the government on the way forward. Recall also that there was a push from a different group of petitioners to have a national referendum on this cannabis issue going forward so maybe this would be the precipice to move towards that. But I certainly can’t speak on behalf of the entire government and we would certainly need to get the proper legal advice from the attorney general.”
Legalize It Caye Caulker argues that regulating the sale of marijuana will limit access to minors and generate much-needed revenue for the island’s development.
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