Is Marijuana tolerated in Nicaragua?

Hasnt CR decriminalized reefer for personal use?

"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bonds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." -- Abraham Lincoln

As far as I know the prohibition of hemp and marijuana has never been voted on by the American people if it was, the estimated 40 plus million smokers who consume an estimated 30 billion dollars of domestically grown weed might actually remember to go to the polls. Prohibition of marihuana and hemp has always been about racism and protecting the paper,cotton,pharmaceutical and alcohol industries... Here's some good links on how we got to the laws we have now

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/first12000/11.htm

http://www.wesleyan.edu/hermes/prev/nov98/8A.htm

"What am I missing?" Well like my old liberal mom used to say "Try it, you might like it"

What can I not say, having been turned on to a toke or two in Nica- Land. Its a beautiful thing.

I wouldn't even try it. Legal punishment is one thing, but getting involved with a Nicaraguan drug dealer can be a far more unpleasant experience, particularly for foreigners.

It depends what you mean by "tolerated". Will people lynch you if you smoke weed at night on the patio of your apartment? No. But, if what you do is well known, eventually, some night the police will visit you. Perhaps a simple C500 shakedown, perhaps not. Perhaps you will be arrested, perhaps not. Perhaps you will know who to bribe, and where, and when, and how much, perhaps not. Perhaps you will have merely a story to tell people years from now, of your 36 hours in jail (jail, not prison) playing cards with guards until the bribe came through, perhaps not. Drugs are not really tolerated in any Central American country. Enforcement is almost random, which makes it tempting for some, and especially dangerous for those who are unfamilair with the country, the language, and what to do if you are arrested (if you intend to seek help from your embassy, good luck...). Drugs are a problem almost everywhere in the world. I am not aware of small time people being especially singled out by police in Nicaragua. Police often single out medium size fish, if that makes sense. Why? Because, the bigger the fish the bigger the bribe (as a foreigned you are already medium sized because it is assumed that since you are there and can afford to be there that you have money). Of course the theory breaks down if police arrest someone really important, cause for the elite it is cheaper to off the police or threaten it, than it is to pay them off. Cigattes are everywhere in the Latin World, pot, no. It can be found easily, but it is not usually sold in public, and people who use it are not ever viewed the "same" as people who do not use it...

Tobacco is sold on almost every street corner, pulperia and bar that I know of...too bad smoking stinks. I was talking to a young dread locked Canadian backpacker named Brian over a giant meat ball sandwhich dinner at the Bearded Monkey when he told me his story about buying weed in Granada. It was late in the evening when he met tattoo face. Tatto face is a street kid (18?) that has been in and out of jail and trouble. His nick name is tattoo face because he has big jail house tattoos on his face...Anyways he offers the Canadian a big baggie of weed for $C200, Brian has had a few double Cuba Libres at El Club already and excitedly hands over the 200. Tatoo boy palms him a baggie and simultaneously shouts out, "cuiado..here comes the policia!" Our canadian pot head quickly crams the oddly warm baggie down the front of his over sized cargo shorts. Before he can catch his breath and before he realizes that there is no cop coming, tattoo face has dissapeared into the nite. When he pulls the baggie out to examine his reefer, he realizes he just paid 200 cords for a baggie of fresh horse sh*t...

Being a gringo, being made an example of Nicragua cracking down on trafficking, is a hard hard hard way to do time in a Central American prison.

From listening to the news, talking to assorted people and such it appears to be much like what I will call "the Seattle model". That roughly translates to yes, it exists, yes, people smoke it and if you are selling it or caught with enough to sell, you get arrested.

The bad news (and this comes from having a lawyer friend helping these people) is that you end up arresting the single mom who sells small quantities in order to support her family but never catch the guys making more serious money. But, I guess that is much like in the US--the decimal point is just in a different place in the amounts being earned.

That said, I have never even had an interest in smoking pot here. I feel moving to Nicaragua is a better way to remove yourself from what people in the US think is "life" than smoking pot.

NO!