Colombia authorizes export of dried cannabis flower for medicinal purposes

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Colombian President Iván Duque signed this Friday (23) a decree authorizing the export of dried cannabis flowers for medicinal purposes, to provide more incentives to the pharmaceutical industry in the country and guarantee access to medicines derived from the plant.

The decree also seeks to encourage the market for cannabis, the scientific name for marijuana, and its use in scientific, medicinal, and industrial research to promote the country’s economic reactivation, job creation, and industrial development.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Colombia

“Colombia today eliminates the prohibition on the export of dried flower, and this means playing big in the international market,” said Duque during an event in the municipality of Pesca, in the department of Boyacá, where he visited the facilities of the company Clever Leaves, an authorized producer for the cultivation of cannabis.

The decree, which regulates the safe and informed use of the plant, also allows the transfer of cannabis to free zones to be cut, dried, transformed, and packaged, according to the Colombian government.

“Today, we have around 18 large foreign investment companies entering Colombia, and we have companies in Colombia that are already attracting capital funds from all over the world,” Duque said.

INVESTMENT GROWTH

With a market in full growth, the medical cannabis industry is making headway in Colombia. It seeks to become a supplier of raw materials and products that can meet the demand and leave behind the plant’s relationship with drug violence.

According to the Colombian government, this is a market that “by the year 2024 will be around 62 billion dollars”, so authorizing the export of dried cannabis flower “will allow the growth of investments that have come to the country and exceed 250 million dollars.”

“Today, we have a way to compete in the market. We have rules, we have an environment, we know, we have talent,” said the president, adding that the country is also making headway in the cosmetics market and manufacturing food and beverages derived from dried cannabis flowers.

The decree strengthens the requirements for granting licenses, requires an anti-corruption commitment from those who apply for them, and establishes measures to protect and strengthen small and medium-sized producers and growers.

“With this decree, we are making a great upheaval, a revolution, so that this sector becomes one of the sectors that generate more employment,” Duque said, noting that Colombia is signing this authorization in the midst of a pandemic that has hit economies around the world.