The President of the Republic, Rodrigo Chaves, mistakenly referred to people who consume marijuana in the country as “criminals.” In reality, the self-consumption of cannabis is decriminalized in Costa Rica.
The use, possession, cultivation, and transportation of marijuana for personal use are not penalized in the country. This is acknowledged by the Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (IAFA) on its information platform and the Third Chamber of the Judiciary.
Costa Rican legislation does not specify quantities of marijuana for personal use. The police authorities assess each case to determine if a person has marijuana for personal use or for other purposes.
Regulatory Law
Additionally, the Legislative Assembly formalized the production and commercialization of cannabis for medicinal and therapeutic use since March 2022. The Chaves Robles administration regulated that law, which also extends to hemp for food and industrial purposes.
The commercialization outside the limits of the medicinal cannabis law is still a crime in Costa Rica, although President Chaves has shown willingness to formalize the trade for recreational use.
What did the President say?
The President of the Republic, Rodrigo Chaves, stated that people who consume marijuana in Costa Rica are “criminals.” He stated this in a speech during the inauguration of the Joint Operations Center in the Térraba-Sierpe National Wetland, which was donated by the United States Government.
Chaves also urged people to “stop feeding” drug trafficking. “We have to end that war between them; it is our obligation, starting with the people who consume illegal drugs: stop feeding those businesses.” There is someone who knows I’m talking to you: report the person who sells it to you,” said the president without specifying who he was referring to.
“I proposed a law to Congress to legalize marijuana.” “Today, it is illegal, and those who consume it, sell it, or traffic it are violating the current law, they are criminals,” added Chaves in front of the U.S. ambassador and representatives from the Ministries of Security and Environment.
The digital media outlets El Mundo CR and El Observador published news that replicate the statements made by Chaves on February 22. El Mundo CR indicated that Chaves appealed directly to the Frente Amplio deputy, Ariel Robles, although the media did not substantiate that link.
Self-consumption is not penalized in Costa Rica
Costa Rican legislation does not establish that the consumption of marijuana is an illegal activity. This is confirmed by the Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (IAFA) on its informational platform about cannabis.
The resins of some Cannabis species have psychoactive effects mainly due to the compound 9-tetrahydrocannabinol. (THC). The flowers of those Cannabis plants and their derivatives are commonly known as marijuana.
Marijuana is an illicit substance in Costa Rica based on the General Health Law and the Law on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. The regulations define prison sentences for the commercial production, trafficking, and sale of cannabis, but do not penalize its consumption.
Furthermore, the Third Chamber of the Judiciary has confirmed that the possession and transportation of marijuana for personal use does not constitute an infringement of the psychotropic law.
The IAFA has clarified that the Police could detain a person for having marijuana “if the amount of drugs they carry leads one to think it is not for personal use.” “Since consumption is not penalized, if the amount of drugs the person is carrying is small, they will probably just seize it,” clarifies the IAFA.
Even so, Costa Rica lacks a regulation that establishes which quantities of marijuana correspond to personal use. The police and judicial authorities assess the cases individually.
“Self-consumption will be defined subjectively depending on what that person is accustomed to consuming.” There are personal traits that allow us to infer that,” explained Erick Gatgens, a professor at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) specialized in Criminal Law.
Gatgens added that the same evaluation is applied to the cultivation of Cannabis plants. “What has happened at the national level is that, if it is proven to be for personal use [the planting of plants], it is not penalized,” clarifies the IAFA on its informational portal.
IAFA emphasizes that marijuana is an illegal substance in Costa Rica and that this empowers police authorities to confiscate it if they find a person consuming it in public, for example.
Legal production for therapeutic use
In March 2022, the Legislative Assembly approved the “Law on Cannabis for Medicinal and Therapeutic Use and Hemp for Food and Industrial Use.” The Chaves Robles administration established the regulations that formalize the production of cannabis for those activities.
This law formalizes the planting, cultivation, harvesting, storage, transportation, and distribution of psychoactive cannabis—as well as the production and importation of seeds—to manufacture and sell duly authorized medical and therapeutic use products in Costa Rica. The law also permits the production of cannabis for scientific research.
The President of the Republic, Rodrigo Chaves, has said that he will promote a law to formalize the trade of recreational marijuana among the adult population of the country.
