Majuro (CBS International) - The newly inducted president of the Republic of the Marshall Islands has announced the tiny Pacific nation had legalized the use of cocaine by executive order.
President Jurelang Zedkaia, a traditional chief and politician, said the Marshall Islands would also be introducing a no-visa unrestricted entry program for foreign nationals of any country.
The shock move appears to have been prompted by a need for foreign currency as the rising sea levels threaten to submerge the country.
The Marshall Islands are an archipelago of 29 atolls and five islands, located in the middle of the Pacific, about 2,500 miles from Hawaii. The population of the country is less than 70,000.
The low-lying atolls are susceptible to immersion in the Pacific as climate change causes a rise in the sea level. Experts agree that the country could cease to exist by 2040.
"We are not going the way of Kiribati. We're not going to abandon our homes and pick fruit for those who caused this," President Zedkaia said, referring to similarly beleagured Kiribati's moves to settle its population in Australia and New Zealand under the migrant labor schemes of those countries.
Speaking on camera, the visibly emotional Marshallese leader said that the Marshall Islands have a proud history of thousands of years. "Then the Westerners came, first it was the atomic bombs, and then now their irresponsible emissions are drowning our islands. We are tired of being raped and victimized. As a sovereign nation, I declare the right of this country to legalize any substance it wishes."
The revenue from cocaine sales would help the country build sea defenses, or buy up more elevated islands in other parts of the Pacific, the president explained.
When asked where the cocaine would be sourced from, President Zedkaia refused to comment, but assured the assembled reporters that it was "the real thing, uncut and pure, the best you can get."
The Marshall Islands were the site of nuclear testing prior to independence from the United States, and Marshallese claims against the US in regard to the fallout from the atomic testing are ongoing.
US Ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Martha Campbell, was present at the unexpected announcement in Majuro, the capital, but declined to speak to reporters and left the premises of the presidential palace immediately.
A spokesperson for the US State Department did not immediately return calls.
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