The Saga of Cannabis Cultivation in Costa Rica: How One Attorney’s Defiance Shaped Legal Precedent
A Bold Challenge to Authority
In the heart of Alajuela, Costa Rica, just 30 meters from the city’s Courts of Justice, an attorney named Mario Alberto Cerdas Salazar made an audacious decision that would test the limits of Costa Rican drug policy. Beginning in 2013, Cerdas openly cultivated cannabis sativa plants on the terrace and in the corridor of his home—not hidden in a basement or remote location, but in plain view, directly across from the Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ), Costa Rica’s judicial investigative agency.
This wasn’t an act of recklessness. It was calculated civil disobedience. As a defender of recreational marijuana use, Cerdas wanted to force a national conversation about cannabis policy and personal freedom. What followed was a legal odyssey spanning nearly a decade, establishing crucial precedents about personal cultivation while also revealing the sharp boundaries that separate legal personal use from criminal distribution.
The First Battle: Cultivation Without Trafficking (2014-2016)
The Arrest
Between July 2014 and July 2015, prosecutors accused Cerdas of cultivating cannabis sativa. Police raided his residence four separate times, ultimately seizing approximately 90 marijuana plants. In August 2015, at age 56, Cerdas was arrested and placed in preventive detention at La Marina prison in San Carlos, where he spent five months behind bars. The prosecution’s argument was straightforward: mere cultivation of cannabis constituted a crime under Costa Rican law.
The Fiscalía (prosecution) came with overwhelming force, requesting an astonishing 24 years in prison for four counts of marijuana cultivation for trafficking. One judge on the panel, Miguel Fernández, calculated that the seized plants could have produced at least 5,000 cigarettes—surely evidence, he argued, of trafficking intent.
The Acquittal
On Tuesday, January 19, 2016, the Tribunal Penal de Alajuela delivered its verdict in a 2-1 decision: acquittal. Judge Carolina Leitón articulated the court’s reasoning: while marijuana cultivation remains illegal under Costa Rican law, it does not constitute a crime if the purpose is not sale or distribution. The key principle was that cultivation for personal consumption, without intent to traffic, presents no danger to public health.
Critically, the prosecution had failed to prove that Cerdas had sold or offered his marijuana plants to anyone. Without evidence of distribution or commercial intent, the cultivation could not be criminalized.
Judge Leitón did clarify, however, that this didn’t give Cerdas carte blanche. OIJ agents could still confiscate any marijuana plants they found, but criminal prosecution would require proof of trafficking intent.
The Appeals Process
The Fiscalía refused to accept defeat. In January 2018, they appealed to the Tribunal de Apelación de San Ramón, which rejected their appeal. Undeterred, Fiscal Fernando Arguedas escalated the case to the Sala Tercera (the Third Chamber, or Criminal Division, of Costa Rica’s Supreme Court).
Arguedas’s argument was provocative: the lower court rulings were essentially giving blanket authorization for citizens to openly and notoriously grow marijuana in their homes, preventing the State from exercising its criminal authority. This, he claimed, would create chaos and undermine drug enforcement.
On June 29, 2018, the Sala Tercera issued Resolution No. 481-2018. While the court didn’t rule on the substantive merits of the case, it declared the prosecution’s appeal inadmissible for failing to meet procedural requirements. The effect was clear: Cerdas’s acquittal stood.
The Precedent Established
The legal principle established by these rulings was significant. Sebastián Mesén, Cerdas’s public defender, explained: “The courts and national jurisprudence had always required that any drug-related crime demanded that there be a purpose of trafficking, distribution or commerce.” Cultivation without such intent did not endanger public health and therefore could not be criminalized.
The ruling ratified that marijuana cultivation is permissible if demonstrated to be exclusively for personal consumption. When cultivation occurs without the purpose of selling or distributing to third parties, there is no threat to public health warranting criminal sanction.
Cerdas’s Victory Declaration
Emboldened by his legal victory, Cerdas made strong public statements encouraging others to follow his example. “Anyone interested in cultivating should be aware that they can do it, as long as it’s for personal use, and be clear that they cannot think about commercializing the plant because they could have problems. That’s my main recommendation and I would tell them to do it without fear.”
He went further, predicting legislative change: “Regulation will have to come because as the plant is liberated, it will be used in different ways. I defend, and I want people not to lose sight of the fact, that the right to agriculture, according to our legal system, constitutes an absolute freedom.”
At 58, speaking to media in 2018, Cerdas was defiant: “I don’t regret having cultivated marijuana.”
The Line Crossed: From Personal Use to Distribution (2019-2020)
The Second Arrest
Unfortunately for Cerdas, his legal troubles were far from over. On August 8, 2019, OIJ agents conducted another raid on his home and office. This time, what they discovered crossed the legal line that had protected him three years earlier.
The seizure included:
- 85 marijuana plants
- Professional cultivation equipment: lights, fans, and an irrigation system
- 2,178 grams of processed marijuana, 300 milliliters of THC-infused oil, and 100 milliliters of cannabidiol (CBD) oil
More damaging than the quantity was the evidence of what Cerdas had been doing with his harvest. Prosecutors demonstrated that he was processing the cannabis to extract THC, which he then used to manufacture oils, butters, and brownies. These products, along with various parts of the plants, were being supplied to third parties whom Cerdas contacted through social media and a telephone line.
This was the critical difference: evidence of distribution.
The Conviction
On November 6, 2020, now 62 years old, Cerdas faced the Tribunal Penal de Alajuela once again. This time, the outcome was starkly different. The court found him guilty of cultivation, possession, supply, and transformation of marijuana, imposing an eight-year prison sentence—the minimum under Article 58 of the Law on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances.
The sentence was actually lenient by prosecutorial standards. The Fiscalía had requested twelve years. The judges justified the reduced sentence by considering Cerdas’s age, his profession as an attorney, his lack of prior criminal record, and their understanding that the illegal activity was not carried out for economic gain.
Nonetheless, the court was clear: Cerdas’s actions placed him within the cycle of drug trafficking and endangered public health. Even without commercial profit motive, the act of supplying processed cannabis products to others constituted a serious crime.
Appeals Exhausted
Cerdas’s defense attorney, José Miguel Villalobos Umaña, argued passionately that his client’s actions posed no danger to public health and did not constitute drug trafficking. “We from the defense disagree with that position,” Villalobos stated. “We consider that Don Mario’s actions did not endanger anyone’s public health. And much less are they located within the circle of drug trafficking. Not at all.”
The courts disagreed. The Tribunal de Apelación de la Sentencia de San Ramón confirmed the eight-year sentence. The Sala de Casación Penal declared the defense’s final appeal inadmissible, making the conviction final.
Eventually, Cerdas was allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence under an open regime—a less restrictive custodial arrangement—but his freedom was gone, and his precedent had been dramatically qualified.
The Current Legal Landscape in Costa Rica (2025)
Personal Consumption: A Gray Area
Today, Costa Rica’s cannabis laws remain complex and somewhat contradictory. Personal consumption of cannabis does not carry criminal penalties under Costa Rican law, which treats drug use as a public health issue rather than a criminal matter. However, the sale and distribution of marijuana can result in serious criminal charges.
The Cerdas case established a crucial but narrow principle: cultivation for genuinely personal use, without any distribution to others, may not constitute a crime. However, this protection is precarious and case-dependent. Costa Rican courts operate without binding precedent (stare decisis), meaning each case is evaluated independently.
Medicinal Cannabis: A Legal Framework Emerges
On March 2, 2022, Costa Rica took a significant step forward by enacting Law 10113—the Law on Cannabis for Medicinal and Therapeutic Use and Hemp for Food and Industrial Use. This law legalized cannabis exclusively for medical, therapeutic, scientific, and industrial purposes.
On February 12, 2025, regulations implementing Law 10113 were finally approved, establishing specific rules for medicinal cannabis production and use. The framework includes three types of licenses: Manufacturing of psychoactive cannabis derivatives and medicinal products; Importation of psychoactive cannabis derivatives and finished products; and Importation of propagative material, cultivation, and primary production.
Costa Rica has awarded 57 licenses to businesses for hemp cultivation and production, positioning itself as an emerging player in the Latin American medicinal cannabis market.
Recreational Use: Still Prohibited
Despite progress on the medicinal front, recreational cannabis remains illegal in Costa Rica. In February 2024, the political party Frente Amplio introduced a transformative bill that would have legalized domestic cannabis cultivation for personal use by adults over 18, allowing up to 20 female plants.
However, in December 2024, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court declared a broader recreational cannabis bill (Legislative Bill No. 23383) unconstitutional. The court’s reasoning was clear: the proposed legislation contradicted international treaties that Costa Rica has ratified, including the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Vienna Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs.
Under Article 7 of Costa Rica’s Political Constitution, these treaties hold superior legal status over domestic laws. For Costa Rica to legalize recreational cannabis, it would need to withdraw from or denounce these international agreements—a politically and diplomatically complex undertaking.
What Personal Cultivation Means Today
So, is personal cannabis cultivation legal in Costa Rica today? The answer remains frustratingly ambiguous.
The practical reality:
- Cultivation exclusively for personal consumption, without any distribution, may not be prosecuted as a crime based on the Cerdas precedent
- However, there is no explicit law authorizing personal cultivation
- Police can still confiscate plants during raids
- Any evidence of distribution, processing for others, or commercial activity will result in serious criminal charges
- Courts evaluate each case individually, and outcomes can vary
The critical line: The Cerdas saga demonstrates that the boundary between legal personal cultivation and criminal trafficking is distribution. Growing plants for yourself may be tolerated; sharing, gifting, or selling cannabis products to anyone—even without profit—crosses into criminal territory.
Lessons from the Cerdas Case
Mario Cerdas Salazar’s decade-long legal journey illuminates the contradictions in Costa Rica’s cannabis policy and the risks faced by those who challenge it.
His 2016-2018 victory established that personal cultivation without trafficking intent need not be criminal. This was a genuine legal achievement that offered some protection for individual cannabis users who choose to grow their own supply.
But his 2020 conviction demonstrated the limits of that protection. Even non-commercial distribution—giving away homemade cannabis products to acquaintances—constituted drug trafficking in the eyes of the law. The eight-year sentence, despite his age, profession, and lack of prior criminal history, sent a clear message: Costa Rica may tolerate private cultivation, but any form of sharing crosses the line.
The Path Forward
Costa Rica stands at a crossroads. The country has embraced medicinal cannabis, creating a regulatory framework that could attract investment and serve patients. Yet recreational use remains prohibited by constitutional interpretation grounded in international treaty obligations.
For advocates of cannabis reform, the path forward is steep. Costa Rica must either:
- Withdraw from international drug control treaties—a drastic step with diplomatic consequences
- Advocate for amendments to these treaties at the international level
- Continue with the current ambiguous status quo, where personal cultivation exists in a legal gray zone
For now, the precedent established by Mario Cerdas Salazar’s first case remains: if you grow cannabis exclusively for your own use, without any distribution or commercial activity, you may not face criminal prosecution. But if you share, process for others, or cross the line into any form of supply, you risk serious prison time.
The message is clear: grow for yourself if you must, but share at your peril.
Note: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Cannabis laws in Costa Rica are complex and subject to interpretation. Anyone considering cannabis cultivation should consult with a qualified Costa Rican attorney familiar with current drug laws and recent jurisprudence.
