The Tico Times sat down with U.S. Ambassador Stafford Fitzgerald Haney at the U.S. Embassy in San José last week to hear his thoughts on U.S. foreign investment, foreign policy, Costa Rica’s leadership role in the region, and the possibility of medical marijuana legalization here.
The turning point for Enrique Ceciliano, former delegation chief in the Southern Zone canton of Pérez Zeledón, came after one drug operation left a pregnant mother and her children without a home.
"The time has come for our country to ... take this step, void of prejudice and strictly abiding by reality and good practices," Costa Rica's major Spanish-language daily, La Nación, writes in a Wednesday editorial supporting the legalization of medical marijuana.
In his article entitled “Big Tobacco’s future as Big Marijuana,” Leonid Bershidsky advises investors that, “Big Tobacco is poised to dominate” the legal cannabis market, and for that reason, “Big Tobacco may be one of the biggest opportunities of a lifetime.” But potential investors beware: As Warren Buffet has said, “never invest in a business you can’t understand.” And it appears that Mr. Bershidsky doesn’t understand the cannabis business.
Latin American countries have been slow to follow Uruguay's lead in legalizing pot. A 2014 survey in Costa Rica found that 53 percent of the population supported the use of medical marijuana.