Colombia: Government lists medical cannabis regulations

One year after legalized medicinal cannabis and adopted the regulation of production, the Colombian government has communicated the latest regulations concerning therapeutic cannabis, which define the benefits and tariffs for plant cultivation and processing into products for therapeutic use.

Standards adopted for medical cannabis in Colombia

The Ministries of Agriculture, Justice and Health have adopted regulations around medical cannabis. The measurements are as follows:

• Growers with an area of half a hectare (5000m2) or less are considered small and medium-sized producers. In addition, the regulations stipulate that 10% of total production must come from a small cannabis producer. This law aims to encourage the development of medical cannabis cultivation with small and medium-sized producers who request it. It also aims to substitute these crops for illegal ones.
• The Ministry of Justice regulates the assessment and sections corresponding to cannabis cultivation licenses. They have established the prices to be paid for these licenses.
• In addition, the Ministry of Health has set the prices to be paid by companies carrying out transformation processes on cannabis plants. This involves defining a safety protocol, quotas and the conditions for transporting cannabis.
• From Decree 2467 of December 2015 authorizing medical cannabis treatment, the Ministry of Health has granted the first six processing permits to the following Colombian companies: Cannalivio, Pideka, Pharmacielo, Ecomedics and Econabis, as well as Canadian company Cannavida.

To recap, Colombian Senator Juan Manuel Galán repealed the previous law and created a new one. This new law established the differences between cannabis containing THC and non-psychoactive ones, the marketing of regulated seeds and scientific research.

Mehdi Bautier