Colombia Continues To Increasingly Embrace Cannabis

Few countries, if any, are closer to the heart of the War on Drugs historically than Colombia. The country in South America has supplied the world with cocaine for decades, and to a lesser extent, cannabis.

International cannabis smugglers such as Robert ‘The Tuna’ Platshorn used to transport Colombian cannabis via fishing boats to the United States as far back as the 1970s. Colombia is still a very popular source of cannabis.

Colombia’s climate is ideal for outdoor cannabis cultivation on a large scale, and cannabis is extremely cheap there compared to other places on earth.

A very respected cannabis author and friend once messaged me from Colombia and told me that a pound of cannabis in Colombia costs just a mere $17. Of course, that is for unregulated cannabis so there would be some additional regulatory costs involved, however, it would still likely be extremely cheap.

As Colombia continues to reform its cannabis laws it’s going to increase its global dominance within the emerging legal international cannabis industry. Colombia’s justice minister recently touted the nation’s progress regarding the continued establishment of a solid cannabis regulatory framework:

1* En la reunión en #Colón #Putumayo el @minjusticiaCo @WilsonRuizO comparte los logros del Gob. Nacional respecto al marco normativo para los usos lícitos del cannabis y celebrar la participación de comunidades indígenas en este sector económico en crecimiento. pic.twitter.com/4JGuNPhHxE

— MinJusticia Colombia (@MinjusticiaCo) March 25, 2022

In yet another example of how mainstream cannabis is becoming in Colombia, multiple presidential candidates are promoting the cannabis industry as a way to boost Colombia’s economy and give coca farmers an alternative crop to cultivate. Per the Associated Press (translated from Spanish to English):

Two candidates for the presidency of Colombia proposed on Tuesday to replace coca leaf crops with cannabis intended for industrial and medicinal use during a debate held by the Externado de Colombia University.

The leftist Gustavo Petro, who obtained the largest number of votes in the presidential primaries, proposed promoting the industrialization and export of cannabis and using it at the same time as a “substitution” economy for coca leaf crops.

“We replace the coca leaf not through fumigation (with glyphosate) and repression, but through an agrarian reform that allows the agro-industrialization of the products of the peasantry in the hands and property of the same peasantry,” explained Petro, former mayor from Bogotá and who in his youth belonged to the extinct M-19 guerrilla.

Colombia’s legal cannabis industry is extremely young, and it will be a while before the country’s industry realizes its full potential. With that being said, companies around the globe need to keep a close eye on Colombia, especially if they have plans for exports.

When cannabis prohibition is finally eradicated from the globe, and cannabis imports and exports are as common as any other popular, mainstream agriculture crop, it’s going to be extremely difficult to compete with Colombia for raw cannabis.