Push For Adult-Use Legalization Gains Momentum In Colombia

Colombia is not new to the international cannabis scene. For many decades Colombian cannabis has served as a top source for cannabis consumers around the world, albeit in an unregulated fashion.

The South American country is most associated with a different intoxicating substance, cocaine, however, Colombia also cultivates tons and tons of cannabis.

I don’t know who was the first person to smuggle cannabis out of Colombia, but I do know that international smugglers such as Robert ‘The Tuna’ Platshorn went to Colombia as early as the 1970s to purchase cannabis by the boat load and sailed literal tons of cannabis back to North America.

Sun-grown cannabis grows very well in Colombia’s climate with far less effort and inputs compared to industrial cannabis cultivation operations found elsewhere on the planet.

A cultivation expert that I know and who travels to Colombia often once told me that a pound of cannabis can be cultivated in Colombia for just $7. That puts Colombia in a very advantageous position to reap the benefits of the emerging international cannabis industry.

That is a sentiment that appears to be shared by an increasing number of lawmakers in Colombia, including President-elect Gustavo Petro, who has served as a vocal critic of the war on drugs.

Petro recently met with the Biden administration to discuss, among other things, drug policy reform. Per excerpts from Reuters:

Colombian President-elect Gustavo Petro on Friday met with representatives of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration in Bogota, the Colombian capital, where they discussed topics including drug trafficking, the environment and economic development.

Petro, a 62-year-old economist who will become Colombia’s first leftist leader next month, has been roundly critical of the U.S.-led war on drugs and was elected on promises to tackle deep inequality and climate change and to seek peace with remaining leftist rebels.

An adult-use cannabis legalization measure was recently introduced in Colombia by Colombian Sen. Gustavo Bolivar, and hopefully it gains support.

With cannabis reform on the move around the globe, and Colombia uniquely positioned to gain a huge share of the international market via exports, the time is ripe for reform in the South American nation.