Minister Kareem Musa Condemns Harassment of Youth for Marijuana Possession

Minister of Home Affairs, Kareem Musa, has condemned the harassment of young persons for marijuana.  His comments came in context with the expungement of criminal records when it comes to first time offenders and misdemeanors.  Within the past four months the Briceno Administration has been able to establish a Board to review the applications for expungement, as well as a system for application processing.  It is quite the initiative as it would assist many one-time only offenders to erase their past on paper.  For Minister Musa, he says this move allows for more than just a reset of someone’s criminal record.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs: “It definitely has a huge impact. It’s been something that we’ve been working on since we took over the administration in 2020. Getting to this point, so many of our marginalized youth have absolutely no criminal record aside from possession of cannabis, which, as you now see, even in the United States, is not an illegal substance in the majority of states. Either it’s for health or recreational use. And so we have to move away from that, targeting young men and targeting young women based on marijuana is absolutely ridiculous. This is 2025, that needs to end and I’m so grateful that our government saw it fit to now expunge records for first-time offenders that only have one conviction for marijuana possession.”

Attorney Leslie Hamilton who has served as a magistrate chairs the Review Board while Melissa Miralda of the Community Rehabilitation Department represents the Ministry of Human Development, and Arturo Lui, Controller of Belize Central Prison represents the Ministry of Home Affairs.  The other board member is the Police Commissioner Chester Williams.