The bill that seeks to enable medical marijuana in Costa Rica was one step away from becoming law this past Thursday when Congress approved it in the first of two required votes.
The initiative was approved in a vote of 36 deputies in favor and 3 against, with 39 legislators present out of the 57 that make up the Legislative Assembly, and the second and final vote could take place next week.
The deputies welcomed the changes proposed by the Government to the original initiative that was partially vetoed by President Carlos Alvarado, in three articles that allowed the “self-consumption” and “self-cultivation” of cannabis.
In the opinion of the Executive, these articles could open the door to overdoses and cultivation for illicit purposes, before which the authorities would not have control capacity, for which reason he asked the deputies to eliminate them from the project. The President thanked the deputies for accepting the Government’s request to move forward with the bill.
Presidential approval
«The approval in the first debate of the Medicinal Cannabis and Industrial Hemp project with the changes that we had suggested means that we are very close to it becoming law. I thank the deputies and deputies who voted in favor of the new text, which will be of great benefit to Costa Rica,” Alvarado said on his social networks.
Wide legal use
The law will allow Costa Rican authorities to grant licenses for the production and industrialization of cannabis for medical or therapeutic purposes. In addition, it declares free the cultivation, production, industrialization, marketing of non-psychoactive hemp or cannabis and its products or by-products, for food and industrial purposes, without prior special or additional authorization from the authorities.
Hemp, which has low THC content, has industrial uses such as the manufacture of textiles, food, seeds, oils, biofuels, medicines and cosmetics, among others.
