“If a woman is a victim of rape or if she has had risky sexual intercourse, she ought to have the option of free access to emergency contraception,” Inamu stated in a press release.

The Tico Times chats with the creator of the fictional character La Tocola, who has taken the Costa Rican press and social media by storm.

In a wide-ranging speech Tuesday at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said the 35 OAS member nations no longer see the drug problem as a public safety matter but rather as a public health issue. Authorities also want alternatives to jailing drug addicts, he said.

Costa Rica's president and public security chief spoke with the U.S.' top military leader for the region about collaboration opportunities, border police training, humanitarian assistance and human rights.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition's branch in Costa Rica, its first in Central America, will focus on educating the public through public speaking and providing a law enforcement perspective to drug policymakers. “We law enforcement have been the tip of the spear for 50 years, and we have failed in our mission to reduce crime, death, disease and drug use," said LEAP co-founder Howard Wooldridge.

"Anti-drug policies in Central America have not had their desired effect,” Public Security Minister Celso Gamboa said. "I can say that after 20 years experience fighting drug trafficking, ... the cases where white collar criminals are caught, those who never touch the drugs, these cases are scarce.”