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Again then, rising marijuana was unlawful, and safety forces focused plantations with pressured eradication campaigns geared toward stemming illicit trafficking.
5 years later, the 29-year outdated engineer oversees the cutout course of at Intelligent Leaves, one in every of Colombia’s largest medical marijuana corporations and the primary in South America to obtain the EU certification to commerce pharmaceutical merchandise.
With greater than 130,000 medical hashish vegetation, Intelligent Leaves’ farm, a former cattle ranch a couple of hours north of Bogota, represents Colombia’s turnaround on marijuana and its aspiration to transform one of many world’s largest ecosystems for unlawful medicine right into a authorized weed powerhouse.
Though marijuana cultivation has been authorized since late 2016, for the previous 5 years Colombian corporations may solely export lively pharmaceutical components (APIs) and subsequently had been banned from essentially the most profitable components of the enterprise.
In July, Colombian president Ivan Duque loosened rules to permit the export of dry hashish flowers, which accounts for greater than 50% of the demand in markets just like the US.
Due to that coverage change, Colombian corporations are actually assured they will compete within the pharmaceutical markets in Europe and North America.
Favorable circumstances
The Andean nation enjoys excellent circumstances for the cultivation of marijuana: 12 hours of daylight give method to 12 midnights nearly every single day of the yr, with minimal seasonal change.
Excessive altitude — Intelligent Leaves’ farm, in Boyacá, sits at 9,377 toes above sea stage — means fewer pesticides are required to stem micro organism and illness than at decrease altitudes, making it simpler to develop natural merchandise.
“If you consider it, greenhouses in different international locations are attempting to emulate the pure circumstances we get right here without spending a dime,” Intelligent Leaves’ president Andres Fajardo advised CNN. “Your issue prices when it comes to labor are considerably cheaper.”
Funding in Colombian medical marijuana has picked up, with the federal government reporting greater than $250 million in international funding within the sector. Nearly all of these {dollars} come from worldwide hashish corporations, largely Canadian, which are partnering with Colombian producers to farm there.
Flora Development, a Toronto-based agency listed on NASDAQ, has bought 100 hectares of land — about 247 acres — in central Colombia. “I hope that over the following three-to-five years we’re going to run out of land,” mentioned Luis Merchán, a Colombian businessman who stop his job as a VP at Macy’s to grow to be Flora’s CEO final yr.
Flora estimates its manufacturing prices to be round $.06 per gram of dry hashish flower, a fraction of the go-to worth that ranges from $.50 cents and $2 within the US.
“Licenses listed here are additionally less expensive than overseas, we’re speaking of $15,000 to $20,000 per license,” mentioned Juliana Salazar, a personal marketing consultant concerned within the Bogota hashish trade. “And an preliminary funding of roughly $100,000 to begin producing right here, which is some huge cash in Colombia, however a smaller funding than should you have a look at Germany, Spain or america.”
Since 2017, virtually 2,000 licenses for cultivation, seeding and commerce of marijuana merchandise have been issued by the Colombian justice ministry, with the vast majority of producers working close to the commercial hubs of Bogotá and Medellin.
An preliminary wave of hashish funding was spurred in 2017 when cultivation was first legalized, however the market stagnated for a pair years earlier than rising once more this yr, in response to Salazar.
Fajardo thinks the long run will likely be extra about regular development than a booming trade. “I agree there was a little bit of a hype, lots of people had some land from their aunt and thought they had been going to make use of it and produce CBD merchandise and going to get wealthy,” the Flora CEO mentioned, “however I believe that is over now and the businesses which are listed here are specializing in the standard of the product.”
Export market
Restricted native demand and excessive manufacturing prices for pharmaceutical merchandise imply the market is specializing in exporting uncooked supplies, equivalent to APIs and now dry flowers, to develop.
Flora Development is attempting to reinforce that by partnering with Colombian retailers to promote edibles, vogue and beauty merchandise in Bogota and different important cities, nevertheless it stays an exception.
Leisure use continues to be banned and hundreds of small-scale farmers proceed to develop illegally for drug cartels and narco-traffickers, however early backers consider the chance is there for additional change.
“I believe the world has come a good distance when it comes to understanding what must be authorized and what should not be authorized,” Flora Development’s Merchán mentioned. “The hashish plant has an incredible quantity of advantages.”
Merchán factors to the US opioid disaster as the last word peg to promote Colombian medical merchandise. “Hashish is poised to alleviate among the strain coming from sufferers which are being handled by opioids in a way more pure and protected approach,” he mentioned. “The chance is there not solely to rectify among the wrongs, however so as to add employment, blue collar jobs within the farms of Colombia, and that’s very rewarding.”
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