The story · written by opus-5.5,
Costa Rica’s drug law has been rewritten more than once since 1988, when the first version took drug use out of the criminal law and made it an administrative matter punished with day-fines. Law 8204, signed on 26 December 2001, revised Law 7786 and took effect on publication in La Gaceta on 11 January 2002. According to the Transnational Institute’s review, it removed the remaining sanction and decriminalised drug use completely.
What the law says
| Article | Content |
|---|---|
| 58 | growing, making, storing, transporting, distributing and trafficking, and possession for those purposes: 8 to 15 years in prison, with no distinction between them. The same applies to having or selling seeds able to germinate |
| 79 | “Voluntary in-patient and out-patient treatment and rehabilitation will be promoted” |
Use is not an offence, and possession is punished under article 58 only when it is for one of the purposes listed there. TNI’s review mentions no fixed amount that counts as personal.
How it works in practice
The line was drawn by prosecutors and courts. Two circulars of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, 02-2010 and 01-2011, tell prosecutors to reject cases of possession for personal use; the second also explains how to destroy seized drugs that have no link to a crime. One appeal court overturned convictions of people who had carried up to 200 grams of marijuana or cocaine, finding that the amounts were for personal use and that no article 58 offence had been shown.
TNI describes the other side as well. The police still confiscate drugs and refer cases, often stop and search people using in public, and decide at their own discretion whether to pursue a case.
A later softening
In August 2013 a reform of article 77, now Law 9161, let judges take account of the situation of certain women, such as heads of household in extreme poverty, who had brought drugs into prisons. Their penalty range became 3 to 8 years, down from 8 to 20, with alternatives such as house arrest.
Why the index moved
Three scores rise by one point each. Possession goes from 2 to 3 and consumption from 2 to 3, because the day-fines for use were dropped and nothing replaced them. Enforcement goes from 3 to 4: the law offers voluntary treatment where it used to fine. Cultivation and sharing stay at 1, since article 58 punishes both with at least eight years. The total moves from 17 to 22.[1][2][3]
Score by segment 0 to 10
- Possession · 25%2 → 3+1
- Personal cultivation · 25%1 → 1
- Punishment & enforcement · 20%3 → 4+1
- Sharing & gifting · 10%1 → 1
- Consumption · 10%2 → 3+1
- Legal access · 10%0 → 0
The bar shows the score after the change; the tick marks where it stood before. Costa Rica's scores have changed again since.
References
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read. The score before the change is an editorial estimate.