Costa Rica countries/cr.yaml
The drug law punishes production and trafficking, not personal use, so possessing a small amount for your own consumption carries no criminal penalty.[@law8204,obs] The law never defines 'small', leaving it to police and prosecutors, and the cannabis is confiscated.[@law8204,obs] [Use stopped being a crime in 1988.](/history/costa-rica-law-7093-1988/) [A home-grow acquittal stood in 2018.](/history/costa-rica-home-growing-ruling-2016/)
Law 8204 lists unauthorised cultivation among trafficking offences, but the Supreme Court let a 2016 home-grow acquittal stand because prosecutors had not shown that the plants were meant for sale or distribution.[@law8204,court2018] Personal cultivation is therefore tolerated case by case, without a statutory plant limit or an affirmative right to grow.[@court2018] [A home-grow acquittal stood in 2018.](/history/costa-rica-home-growing-ruling-2016/) [Unauthorised cultivation is a trafficking offence.](/history/costa-rica-law-8204-2001/)
Users are not prosecuted.[@law8204,obs] Cultivation or possession proved to be for trafficking, and unauthorised supply, carry eight to fifteen years in prison.[@law8204,court2018] [Use stopped being a crime in 1988.](/history/costa-rica-law-7093-1988/)
law8204, obs, court2018
Any supply to another person is trafficking.[@law8204] [Unauthorised cultivation is a trafficking offence.](/history/costa-rica-law-8204-2001/)
Personal use is not punished.[@law8204,obs] Smoking in public can lead to confiscation and police intervention but not criminal charges.[@obs] [Use stopped being a crime in 1988.](/history/costa-rica-law-7093-1988/)
No lawful adult-use supply exists. Law 10113 and its regulations provide medical routes, b … ons and pharmacy compounding have different requirements.[@medical44917,registration2026] [Medical cannabis became law in 2022.](/history/costa-rica-medical-2022/) [A recreational bill failed in 2024.](/history/costa-rica-recreational-bill-unconstitutional-2024/)
There is no legal recreational market, but personal use is not punished: possessing a smal … 204,court2018] Supply to another person is trafficking: eight to fifteen years.[@law8204] [Use stopped being a crime in 1988.](/history/costa-rica-law-7093-1988/) [A home-grow acquittal stood in 2018.](/history/costa-rica-home-growing-ruling-2016/) [A recreational bill failed in 2024.](/history/costa-rica-recreational-bill-unconstitutional-2024/)
Law 10113 of March 2022 created licences for medicinal cannabis cultivation and processing, and freed hemp for food and industrial use.[@law10113,mag] [Medical cannabis became law in 2022.](/history/costa-rica-medical-2022/)
Hemp/CBD goods are distinct from prescription THC products. The medicinal framework permits registered dried flower and dosed products; individual pharmacy-made non-sterile preparations are exempt from finished-product registration, subject to their own controls. These permissions do not establish stocked products.[@medical44917]
medical44917
Law 10113 created the medical framework in 2022.[@law10113] Decree 44917-S allows pharmacy sales of registered medicinal cannabis products; controlled products require a digital prescription.[@medical44917] The Health Ministry opened applications in June 2025 and still publishes registration procedures.[@registration_open,registration2026] Routine pharmacy availability of a named approved THC product has not been established.[@m … ered medicines on medical documentation, including for qualifying patients treated abroad.[@medical44917] Non-sterile pharmacy compounding also has a registration exception.[@medical44917] Neither route is evidence that ordinary pharmacies already stock cannabis medicines.[@medical44917] Hemp and CBD goods sit outside the prescription THC route: registered dried flower and dosed products are permitted, and pharmacy-made non-sterile preparations are exempt from finished-product registration under their own controls — permissions that do not establish stocked products.[@medical44917] [Medical cannabis became law in 2022.](/history/costa-rica-medical-2022/)
No criminal record for personal use.[@law8204] [Use stopped being a crime in 1988.](/history/costa-rica-law-7093-1988/)
Courts require evidence of trafficking before punishing cultivation for personal use, so possessing and planting one's own seed or cutting sits in the same case-specific grey area.[@court2018] Commercial propagation is regulated: Law 10113 covers seeds, seedlings and cuttings, and licensed medical or authorised hemp growers must use lawful, registered material.[@law10113] The Agriculture Ministry says there is no domestic commercial seed supplier, so seed must be imported under seed and plant-health rules.[@mag] [A home-grow acquittal stood in 2018.](/history/costa-rica-home-growing-ruling-2016/) [Medical cannabis became law in 2022.](/history/costa-rica-medical-2022/)
court2018, law10113, mag, mag
Clubs have no legal basis, and the one documented attempt was pushed out. High Club, a pri … aint was filed alleging a minor had smoked there, and the landlord took the premises back.[@lr22] Home growing and private use are not punished, but selling is.[@lr22] A bill discussed in Congress in 2022 would have allowed private cannabis clubs.[@lr22] No national picture of other clubs was found in the sources read.[@lr22] [A recreational bill failed in 2024.](/history/costa-rica-recreational-bill-unconstitutional-2024/)
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone.[@law8204,obs] The drug law punishes production and trafficking, not personal use, so possessing a small amount for one's own consumption carries no criminal penalty; the law never defines 'small', leaving it to police and prosecutors.[@law8204,obs] [Use stopped being a crime in 1988.](/history/costa-rica-law-7093-1988/)
Penal Code article 261 bis penalises driving under the influence of narcotics, psychotropic drugs or analogous substances affecting the driver.[@trafficpenal] The current text provides one to three years' imprisonment plus disqualification from driving all vehicle types for two to four years; repeat offending increases the prison term by one-third.[@trafficpenal] A sentence of two years or less can be converted by the court into the specified fine or public-service alternative.[@trafficpenal] Traffic Law article 208 permits protocol-based testing of a suspected drug-influenced driv … preliminary result, and referral to prosecutors where the criminal offence is established.[@traffic9078] Screening must not be treated as the criminal finding itself.[@traffic9078] Law 10860 was enacted in 2026, but the official legal database identifies 28 March 2027 as its effective date.[@trafficpenal] Its future drug wording, prescription exclusion and testing deadline are therefore not presented as already-operative protections.[@trafficpenal] No numerical THC cutoff was verified in the current provisions.[@trafficpenal,traffic9078]
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 16,668 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 15,847 kg in 2023, and 3.8 kg of cannabis resin seized in 2024.[@unodc_szr] The UN publishes them as kilogram equivalents, and countries count seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@unodc_szr]
Leafly — Costa Rica just legalized medical marijuana. Here's what the new law allows (2 March 2022) MJBizDaily — Costa Rica awards 57 permits for cultivation, production of hemp (October 2024) 13 unchanged
label Small amount for own consumption · treatment tolerated · term Personal possession · note No penalty; no statutory amount; cannabis confiscated
label Personal cultivation without trafficking proof · treatment tolerated · term Personal home growing · note Tolerated case by case after the 2016 acquittal; no plant limit, no affirmative right, label Cultivation proved for trafficking · treatment criminal · prison 15 years · prison min 8 years · term Trafficking cultivation · note Eight to fifteen years
high
The THC line sits at 1%: industrial hemp below 1% THC is lawful for food and industrial use under Law 10113, a higher ceiling than the 0.3% standard elsewhere.[@leafly] The agriculture ministry had awarded 57 hemp cultivation and production permits by October 2024, good for six years, and issued the first medical licence in May 2023.[@mjbiz] [Medical cannabis became law in 2022.](/history/costa-rica-medical-2022/) [57 hemp permits were awarded in 2024.](/history/costa-rica-hemp-permits-2024/)
leafly, mjbiz