Colombia is the fourth country in Latin America to legislate on the use of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes, preceded by Chile, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay, which positions Colombian legislation at a relatively advanced level on the matter. Thus, through Law 1787 of 2016, regulated by Decree 613 of 2017, Colombian legislation opened a new scenario for national health, politics, and the economy.
Since Legislative Act 02 of 2009, which reformed Article 49 of the Political Constitution, a new reality was established in Colombia by allowing the use of narcotic or psychotropic substances under medical prescription. However, this decree also contributed its share of ambiguity to Colombian legislation, as it was not until Law 1787 of 2016, seven years later, and its regulation in 2017 through Decree 613, that a clear handling of the issue was provided.
It should be noted that this regulation only applies to the use of cannabis for scientific or medicinal purposes; it does not legalize its consumption. On the contrary, it regulates the entire chain of production, cultivation, manufacturing, acquisition, import, export, storage, transportation, commercialization, distribution, use, and possession of cannabis plant seeds, its derivatives, and products containing them.
Currently, and in relation to the aforementioned uses, only two national institutions are part of the implementation and licensing process. The Ministry of Health is the competent authority to issue licenses for the manufacturing of cannabis derivatives, and the authority to grant licenses for the use of seeds for sowing, cultivation of psychoactive cannabis, and cultivation of non-psychoactive cannabis lies with the Ministry of Justice.
One of the challenges pertaining to this new regulation is understanding its purpose and intent, as it does not authorize the recreational use of cannabis and cannot be used for the treatment of all diseases. The use of cannabis for medicinal purposes applies only to chronic and terminal diseases as a form of alternative and palliative management.
On the other hand, these licenses aim for small and large entrepreneurs, both national and foreign, to systematically cultivate and produce cannabis-derived products or products containing them, in accordance with current regulations. This is intended to dismantle organizations dedicated to the illegal planting and exploitation of such crops. Paradoxically, despite the law's stated intention to include and protect "small" growers, the first license enabling the production and manufacturing of cannabis derivatives for medical purposes in Colombia was granted to the Colombian-Canadian multinational PharmaCielo Colombia Holding S.A.S.