New proposed bill in Colombian Congress would loosen cannabis regulations
The Colombian Congress has just proposed a new bill that would significantly ease government regulations on the cannabis industry in a number of key areas.
The bill itself would tweak existing legislation, mostly from 2016 in many areas, including changes to existing licenses, opening new categories of license,
It would also establish once and for all that CBD-based products should not be considered a controlled substance in the same way their THC-bearing cousins are.
However, the most interesting item in the proposed bill is that, if passed as is, it would allow for the export of dried cannabis flower to other countries from Colombia for the first time in history.
Dried flowers: a ‘game changer’
Industry experts are calling this a potential “game-changer”, since this would allow companies exporting from Colombia to take advantage of some massive price differentials.
For example, according to this article by the Cannabis Business Times, “while a gram of cannabis flower costs between US$0.50 and US$0.80 to produce in Colombia, in Canada it can cost US$2.10”
Chris Reed, the CFO of Medcolcanna (MCCN), commented in an interview, “We are very pleased with the possibility of being able to export flower. This would represent a whole new era for the company.”
Companies like MCCN have a cost below 0.10 as of the date of this writing, and are already GACP certified. This means that they are perfectly poised to take advantage of this potential new legislation, which will allow them access worldwide markets with their whole range of premium products.
Colombia’s government similar to that of the US
Colombia is a republican democracy; its legislative process is almost identical to that of the US. Thus, the 59-page text of the proposed bill would still have to make its way through the two bodies of Congress in order to become law. It could also undergo any number of changes in the process, naturally.
Nonetheless, the news is very encouraging for the cannabis industry, both in Colombia as an exporter, and worldwide for importers.
The version of the bill obtained by this outlet is reproduced here below for those of you who speak Spanish and would like to review it.
It appears to have been proposed jointly by the Ministers of Justice and Law, Agriculture and Rural Development and Health and Social Protection, as well as the ad-hoc Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism and the Director of the Presidential Administrative Office.
The fact that so many big names in Congress and in the Colombian government are backing this bill bodes well for its eventually being passed into law.
