Medical marijuana reform is spreading all over the world. The latest example of that is the nation of Colombia. Today the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, signed a decree that legalized medical marijuana. This is huge news for the suffering patients of Colombia, and also is big news for other reform efforts in other nations, as it will increase the momentum of reform. Per Yahoo News:
In a nationally televised address, Santos announced it would be fully legal to grow, process, import and export cannabis and its derivatives for medical and scientific use.
“This decree allows licenses to be granted for the possession of seeds, cannabis plants and marijuana,” he said from the presidential palace.
“It places Colombia in the group of countries that are at the forefront… in the use of natural resources to fight disease.”
Medical marijuana has been operating in a legal gray area in Colombia, with no real regulations. That changed with this decree, which allows people to apply for licenses to grow medical marijuana, and people can even apply to export medical marijuana to other countries where it’s legal. I had a long discussion with Robert Platshorn about Colombian marijuana recently, and he said it’s good stuff. Robert was convicted of smuggling over three million pounds of marijuana from Colombia decades ago, so I’ll take his word for it. Colombia has the potential to become a very large supplier of medical marijuana to the world.
