University of Florida. Center for Latin American Studies.

From 1973 to 1976, University of Florida professors William E. Carter, Ph.D. (Anthropology), Wilmer J. Coggins, M.D. (Community Health and Medicine), and Paul L. Doughty, Ph.D. (Anthropology), conducted a research project on chronic marijuana use in Costa Rica. A study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the goal was to obtain research material on the long-term effects of chronic cannabis use on a person's social and medical life.

From 1973 to 1976, University of Florida professors William E. Carter, Ph.D. (Anthropology), Wilmer J. Coggins, M.D. (Community Health and Medicine), and Paul L. Doughty, Ph.D. (Anthropology), conducted a research project on chronic marijuana use in Costa Rica. A study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the goal was to obtain research material on the long-term effects of chronic cannabis use on a person's social and medical life.

The research was split into two teams. The anthropological team carried out the socio-cultural studies of the project. This included conducting extensive interviews with the sample population. To aid in the interviewing process, questionnaires were created that asked specific questions on life history, marijuana use, and demographics (see Appendix B in the final report). The second team was the medical and psychological team. While in Costa Rica, this team performed clinical examinations on the sample population to compare health conditions of users and non-users of marijuana. Many of the health examinations measured central and peripheral nervous system impairment in relation to marijuana use.

The study began with a recommendation by the director of the Department of Narcotics in Costa Rica, Virginia Ramirez de Barquero, for the UF researchers to conduct their findings in the barrios (neighborhoods) of San José, Costa Rica. Among the urban setting of San José, the researchers gathered a group of 240 Costa Rican men to begin their research. All of the men chosen for the study were not randomly selected from the general public. Instead, most of the men were ranked in the middle of the working class and gathered from institutional populations, such as universities, prisons, or the army. Out of the 240 men, 84 were long-term, regular smokers while 156 were considered the control of the study as the non-smokers. Once interviews between the researchers and the men were conducted, a sample population of 82 was made. Out of these 82, 41 were users of marijuana and 41 were non-users. Each user was matched with a non-user on the basis of medical history and social criteria, such as job classification, age, and education.

Over a span of two years, the researchers performed field research that consisted of further interviewing the sample population. To gain trust in the men they were interviewing, the researchers conducted all of their research in Spanish. The researchers also interacted with the participants day after day in their home environment. As a result, the researchers obtained a more personal view on how the sample population carried on their everyday life.

The researchers' findings were compiled in their final report called Chronic Cannabis Use in Costa Rica . The official contract number for the study was N01-MH3-0233[ND].