From The Costa Rica News (TCRN) we have emphasized all relevant information that has come to light regarding the issue of “Cannabis in Costa Rica” since it continues to be a conflictive debate in this Central American country.
Let´s recall that in August 2018, the Costa Rican Supreme Court determined that a person is allowed to grow cannabis in their home for personal consumption and not trafficking and the State will not consider it as a danger to public health.
Talamanca, where cannabis is mostly grown
According to official data, Talamanca is the region where cannabis is most grown in Costa Rica. Every year the country carries out massive eradications in the indigenous areas of “Alto Telire” and other nearby areas. Seizures of plants have been massive for decades, and go unnoticed without further national debate.
It should be noted that very little has been reported on the importance that this area has played in preserving traditional, medicinal and psychoactive uses of the plant. Although it has always been an object of study in San José, by different ministries.
Costa Rica does not escape contradictions in the matter
While important business partners for the country, such as the United States and Canada, legalize the medicinal and recreational use of cannabis, a Costa Rican deputy, Erick Rodríguez, proposed a Law to criminalize its use in public and private places. That fines of 40 thousand colonies be imposed on consumers, says the text. The bill is called “Law on the Control of Cannabis Sativa and its harmful effects on health”, as recorded in file 21.597.
On the other hand, the former security minister, Fernando Berrocal, considers that “it is nonsense to go to Talamanca to cut and burn cannabis plants”. Similarly, he supports the export of cannabis to the United States. In his opinion, marijuana should be legalized and exported to the United States wherein half of the states it is legal for consumption or as medicine, “we would do good to our people in Limón who need more economic options”, “we must change the policy on this drug, we cannot continue to displace resources for that activity and rather engage our efforts against cocaine and synthetic drugs of which drug traffickers have made our country a transit pathway towards the North”, said the former Costa Rican minister.
The United States and the cultivation of Industrial Hemp
At the end of 2018, the famous American activist Jack Herer said: “I don’t know if hemp will save the world, but it’s the only thing that can do it”. Today, his books are no longer considered “conspiracy theories” and the US Congress passed a law to legalize industrial hemp.
That’s right, it is an agricultural law known as “Farm Bill 2018”. Among the issues it addresses is the possibility of farmers to plant industrial hemp and produce products with CBD, a non-psychoactive component, which in recent years has gained great popularity for its therapeutic uses
Not only on the subject of health
Did you know that hemp is positioned as the alternative to concrete in Costa Rica?
This is information that was released in 2018, but that we can ensure that it is still maintained; In Costa Rica, a cannabis-based house is already built, specifically using a variety known as “English Hemp”. This knowledge resurfaced from the ashes of construction using fibers to be placed as an ecological option for concrete, cement, and conventional concrete houses.
From hemp, you can obtain a variety of processed products for clothing, food and of course its capacity as a building material. The world rediscovered hemp in 1980, since then it has been a viable option for many matters in places where this crop has been legalized.
In Central America, the Costa Rican company “Zegreenlab” has been given the task of introducing its option as an eco-construction material to the región. They already have officially finished the first house built entirely with hemp in Flamingo, Guanacaste.
A material that may interest the
country to further promote the “green revolution”. The material is very
attractive to everyone. To those who like cannabis, of course for being a
plant-based construction material. Those who know about construction can
associate it with adobe and see a revised and improved technology.
Hemp is one of the first crops domesticated by humans and has been used for centuries, including the United States until 1937 when the government began the war against its good use. It is grown in European and some American countries. Hundreds of goods such as fiber, building blocks, textiles, rope, and even biodiesel can be produced from this crop. The USA entered the global competition for the development of this bio-industry although other countries are already at the forefront.
Here in TCRN, we wanted to share with you, some interesting data from December 2017: A survey carried out by the School of Statistics of the University of Costa Rica determined that 78.1% of the population considered that it is easy to acquire marijuana. The study included a probabilistic sample of 1,236 Costa Ricans 18 years of age and older, who perceived that in the country 25% of people older than 15 years use or have used marijuana. TCRN soon will be contacting this School of Statistics, to know how this tendency has evolved after two years, in 2019.
