Costa Rica sets hemp limit at 1% THC

Costa Rica legalizes hemp last March. Under the rules announced last week, licenses to grow and produce hemp will be inexpensive and widely available.

Growing and trading licenses, renewable every six years, will be granted to farmers and other supply chain operators. And the THC in hemp is set at 1.0 %, and therefore a production of CBD in the country, as the amount of cannabidiol in hemp goes hand in hand with that of THC.

Scope of the rules

Natural and legal persons are authorized to grow and process hemp, in accordance with the framework, which sets out and centralizes the specific rules applicable to post-harvest, storage, transport, product manufacturing, marketing, import and export of sanitary, food and industrial products.

The Ministry of Agriculture (MAG) will control the granting of licenses for the import and reproduction of crop seeds from the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CRSS), which is responsible for most of the country's public health sector, or from authorized laboratories or other entities. These licenses are only available to organizations such as cantonal agricultural centers, associations of small and medium-sized producers, cooperatives and indigenous development associations, MAG said.

Very simple regulations

«This is a very simple regulation,» said Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles. «The licenses are not going to cost more than a symbolic amount and anyone willing and able to comply with the law, will be able to plant (hemp) and will have the opportunity to process it.»

Hemp advocates in Costa Rica argue that the creation of a robust hemp sector can stimulate the development of agricultural value chains providing economic and social opportunities to the country's rural areas, and contribute to the growth of the pharmaceutical industry.

The President said his office was preparing legislation to set these rules, with the aim of presenting it to the Legislative Assembly by November 1. The rules will then come into force after publication in the official government gazette.

The Costa Rican government has also confirmed that it will was preparing a bill to legalize cannabis.