In October 2020, Hemp Industry Daily reported that 'Costa Rican lawmakers have put forward a draft law to legalize the cultivation, production and sale of industrial hemp and medicinal marijuana. The proposal was published last month after it was approved by lawmakers on the Environment Commission of the Legislative Assembly, online news outlet El Mundo CR reported. The draft law comes after the launch of a project last year by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Trade to examine the commercial benefits of developing the hemp industry, according to an analysis from Valeria Grant, an associate at the Central American law firm Arias.'
In January 2021, Q Costa Rica reported that 'The call to action comes from legislators of various political factions, including the ruling party, who believe that the opportunity to create a new industry in the country that generates investment and employment should be seized.'
In November 2021, Reuters reported that 'Costa Rica's Congress on Tuesday approved the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes, despite opposition from conservative groups and President Carlos Alvarado who still needs to put his stamp of approval on the law. The law allows for the production and processing of cannabis, but does not regulate its recreational use.'
In August 2023, Tico Times reported that 'After several months on hold, the Environmental Commission of the Legislative Assembly will resume discussions this week on the bill to legalize recreational marijuana in the Costa Rica. The proposal was rejected by the majority of the commission members, which includes three from the PLN and two from the New Republic parties. This was confirmed by Manuel Morales, a member of the ruling party. “There are five votes against. We have already prepared the minority report to be presented to the Plenary. Some of the substitute text includes their suggestions, but they are going to vote against it,” he added. Four members of the commission support the initiative, so they will present it to the Plenary with a minority report, hoping it can progress and be approved. “When it reaches the Plenary, I believe it can be approved. It may be tight, but I think some members of the National Liberation party will support it,” Morales stated.'
In the interim between these events, due to lack of further information with me, I can only assume that the following happened: Costa Rica now has a legalized medical cannabis industry; cannabis is being cultivated as industrial hemp, though I do not know for what industrial applications it is being used; the benefits of medical cannabis has encouraged some sections of Costa Rican society to push for legalization of adult recreational cannabis usage.
The steps taken by Costa Rica are the logical steps that most nations are taking in their progress towards cannabis liberation and maturity in the social relationship with cannabis. The increasing awareness that almost all anti-cannabis propaganda is false, created by selfish interests, is one of the key factors. Growing scientific information is debunking all the myths that kept cannabis prohibited globally for nearly a century now. Some of these myths are: cannabis causes insanity; cannabis is addictive and harmful; cannabis is more harmful than alcohol, opium and tobacco; cannabis is used by criminals and causes crime; cannabis is used by the lowest classes and castes of society; women who use cannabis are prostitutes; cannabis legalization will destroy the youth; and so on. Most of these myths were debunked more than 150 years ago itself, by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 set up by the British colonial rulers of India in order to prohibit cannabis and promote their alcohol, opium, tobacco and western medicine. But that did not stop the world from still going ahead and prohibiting cannabis, since the elites of the world who control global drug policy had amassed great wealth and power through the sale of their preferred drugs - alcohol, opium and tobacco - and had also grown vastly rich in the industries that thrived in the absence of cannabis, namely the petrochemical industry, the synthetic pharmaceutical industry, the petrochemical-based fertilizer and pesticides industry, the fossil-fuel based construction industry, the petrochemical-based non-biodegradable plastics industry, the synthetic fabric and cotton industry, the timber-based paper industry, and so on.
We see the world over that cannabis prohibition is essentially the caste and class system being played out where the ruling elites oppress the lower classes and castes - the working classes, the minorities, the indigenous communities - and the poorest sections of society so as to keep them in shackles and make them work for the ruling elites. The ruling elites access cannabis as medical cannabis or procure it from the black market. The oppressed classes can do neither. The medical industry ensures that only the elites can access medical cannabis. Law enforcement and drug enforcement ensure that only the elites can afford and access cannabis from the black market. If the lower classes and castes grow or access cannabis, they are swiftly punished by the power structure of the elites which includes politicians, the medical industry, religious orthodoxy, cannabis prohibition groups, the media, law enforcement and drug enforcement. It is this global class and caste system that enabled the elites to prohibit cannabis in the first place. It is ironic that the 1961 Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs that all nations of the world are signatories to and whose national drug laws closely adhere to, does not prohibit cannabis for industrial purposes. Despite this, almost no nation pursued cannabis for industrial purposes in the 20th century and only a handful of nations - China, the US, France, to name a few - have seriously adopted industrial cannabis in the 21st century. This shows the power of the industries opposed to cannabis that the elites thrive on and use to control the world.
Costa Rica may well have started the adoption of industrial cannabis seeing the US legalize it through the 2018 Farm Bill. It may have ventured into medical cannabis seeing the traction for it in South America, especially in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Uruguay legalized cannabis for recreational purposes in 2014 and has since then become a cultivation outsourcing destination for various medical cannabis companies, mainly from Canada which cannot grow good quality cannabis at the large scale it requires to meet its internal and export requirements. This venture of Costa Rica into medical cannabis appears to be more to meet the cannabis needs of its own ruling elites and to export medical cannabis to Canada, Europe, Brazil, Argentina and Australia for the use of the elites there. The recent push for legalization of recreational cannabis may have been the result of the success of the US states that have done it so far and the economic benefits that these US states are seeing as a result of it.
We see that the re-emergence of a medicinal herb that has been used for thousands of years across Asia, Africa and the Americas is being met with resistance from the conservatives in Costa Rican society. The conservatives, essentially another name for the ruling elites, have been resisting every step of the way even as society has been devastated with addiction to alcohol, opioids, synthetic prescription pharmaceuticals, methamphetamine, fentanyl, etc.
The reasons why countries like Canada, Germany, South Africa and Uruguay legalized cannabis for recreational purposes were: improving public health; shrinking the black market for drugs; reducing crime; protecting the youth, etc. All these are benefits that are applicable to every single nation in the world. In the US, the legalization of recreational cannabis in 24 states (at the time of writing) has enabled job creation; increased revenues; reduced harms from synthetic drugs; increased tourism and so on.
The benefits of legalizing cannabis completely are far reaching, especially in a world that is on the brink of human-induced climate disaster mainly due to the actions of the industries opposed to cannabis. For Costa Rica, completely legalizing cannabis will have medical, social, environmental, spiritual, economic and business benefits that will enable it to adopt the path of sustainable existence. This is not a nice-to-have situation but a most critical necessity if Costa Rican society is to survive in a healthy fashion in the coming decades. It is a measure that will ensure the well-being of youth, the elderly, women, the sick, the working classes and the poorest classes of society. To ignore complete legalization of cannabis is to put Costa Rica's future in peril.
Related articles
After several months on hold, the Environmental Commission of the Legislative Assembly will resume discussions this week on the bill to legalize recreational marijuana in the Costa Rica.
The proposal was rejected by the majority of the commission members, which includes three from the PLN and two from the New Republic parties. This was confirmed by Manuel Morales, a member of the ruling party.
“There are five votes against. We have already prepared the minority report to be presented to the Plenary. Some of the substitute text includes their suggestions, but they are going to vote against it,” he added.
Four members of the commission support the initiative, so they will present it to the Plenary with a minority report, hoping it can progress and be approved. “When it reaches the Plenary, I believe it can be approved. It may be tight, but I think some members of the National Liberation party will support it,” Morales stated.
https://ticotimes.net/2023/08/22/costa-rica-lawmakers-divided-on-revised-recreational-marijuana-bill
'Costa Rica's Congress on Tuesday approved the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes, despite opposition from conservative groups and President Carlos Alvarado who still needs to put his stamp of approval on the law.
The law allows for the production and processing of cannabis, but does not regulate its recreational use.'
'The call to action comes from legislators of various political factions, including the ruling party, who believe that the opportunity to create a new industry in the country that generates investment and employment should be seized.'
https://qcostarica.com/political-pressure-grows-for-medical-marijuana-and-hemp/
'Costa Rican lawmakers have put forward a draft law to legalize the cultivation, production and sale of industrial hemp and medicinal marijuana.
The proposal was published last month after it was approved by lawmakers on the Environment Commission of the Legislative Assembly, online news outlet El Mundo CR reported.
The draft law comes after the launch of a project last year by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Trade to examine the commercial benefits of developing the hemp industry, according to an analysis from Valeria Grant, an associate at the Central American law firm Arias.'
https://hempindustrydaily.com/costa-rican-lawmakers-considering-hemp-cultivation-processing/
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