The Colombian Gold is a sativa landrace Native to the Santa Marta Mountains in Colombia. Its buds are fluffy and covered in crystals, giving off a skunky aroma with sweet citrus notes.
This native sativa gave rise to the Skunk #1, a hybrid that has become the foundation for the creation of new cannabis strains.
The clear, focused effects of Colombian Gold come without paranoia or anxiety, making it a good choice for novices or people who need to remain productive while taking their medication.
Colombian Gold can help patients release muscle tension, pain and other physical symptoms, but its stimulating qualities can also be used for depression and attention deficit disorders.
How potent was the original Colombian Gold?
The reputation of Colombian Gold in the 1970s should not be confused with the THC levels we have come to expect from modern strains. In The Marijuana Grower’s Guide, Mel Frank and Ed Rosenthal report the results of analyses of five samples of «Colombian Golds» purchased in New York and San Francisco in 1976. Their average content was only 2.59 % of THC, accompanied by 1.27 % of CBN.
However, these figures do not necessarily mean that plants grown in Colombia produced only 2 or 3 % of THC. Frank and Rosenthal explain that Colombian cannabis intended for export was rarely harvested at its peak potency and then underwent long periods of drying, storage, and transport. Some of the THC degraded into CBN even before the cannabis reached American consumers. According to their estimate, the CBN measured in the five Colombian Gold samples accounted for approximately one-third of the THC originally present in the fresh plant.
In fact, the authors had encountered Colombian specimens measuring up to 9.7 % of THC, which demonstrates the significant variability that already existed. They also caution that the results from that time were heavily dependent on the sampling and analysis techniques used.
Another historical nuance: «Colombian Gold» did not necessarily refer to a perfectly homogeneous strain. Frank and Rosenthal explicitly mention several «Colombian Golds» with similar but distinct characteristics: some plants did not exceed about 1.80 meters, while the most common varieties could reach 3.60 to 4.50 meters under the same conditions.
Colombian Gold from the 1970s should therefore be understood more as a family of well-known Colombian strains marketed under a single name than as a standardized variety as defined by today’s cannabis industry.
