Its April 20 or “weed day” as many call it and the consumers of marijuana in Costa Rica celebrate this day by smoking of course.

The theories on how 4/20 became a code for pot smoking are many and no one can say for sure which one is the true story, but the fact is that April 20 has become internationally known as weed day, events are held in many countries to advocate for the legalization of cannabis which is not the case in Costa Rica, where users of marijuana are still somewhat stigmatized.

What is the reality of marijuana in Costa Rica? Here are 5 facts you probably didn’t know:

1) Statistics show that there are currently more marijuana smokers than tobacco smokers in the country.
2) Consumers in Costa Rica search more for “high red” weed which comes from Jamaica.
3) Costa Rica Alchemy was recently created as the First Association for Medicinal Marijuana in Latin America.
4) In a recent survey by the University of Costa Rica 78.1% of the population considers that it is very easy to have access to marijuana. The percentage of people that confirm having tried marijuana at least once went from 7.7% in 2010 to 17.7% in 2015.
5) For many years now a group of people have pushed for the legalization of medicinal marijuana, so far the legislative assembly has not approved it; however, advocates base their defense in Article 2 of the Psychotropic Law that could be interpreted to authorize the use of components made from cannabis for medicinal purposes. What is missing and is required are rules that limit the consumption of this components and their commercialization.