On July 6, 4 years of Law 1787 were fulfilled, which regulated medical and scientific cannabis in Colombia.
This norm was born as a treatment option and as an industry with great economic opportunity, in a global market estimated by 2025 at 166,000 million dollars (more than 600 billion pesos, equivalent to one sixth of the national economy, whose GDP is calculated at 1,000 billion), according to the Euromonitor International measurement of February 2019.
Although the industry has not yet taken off in these proportions and the coronavirus has slowed processes, the balance they make from various sectors is positive, especially considering that the law was regulated until 2017 with decree 613, which laid the foundations for Colombia today has more than 970 cannabis licenses and a production quota of 56 tons per year, the second country with the highest authorization from the International Narcotics Control Board (Jife).
In addition, between May and June of this year, Colombia made 6 commercial exports of cannabis seeds for a total of 29’100,000 seeds, totaling more than half a ton of product that arrived in Denver, United States; and since 2019, in smaller shipments, some companies were already taking derivative products to markets such as the United Kingdom. The industry caught the attention of even the public sector and in the Antioquia Development Plan 2020-2023, the possibility that this department, as a territorial entity, entered the business was recorded.
And now that the country is facing an economic crisis from Covid-19, the government has put more hope in the industry. A month ago, when presenting the MICC –platform that virtualizes the procedures for cannabis licenses–, the Minister of Justice, Margarita Cabello, said: “I am convinced that this sector will be fundamental in the process of economic reconstruction to which it will be led the country as a consequence of the pandemic. ”
In an interview with EL TIEMPO, Cabello added that, according to experts, the country “could become a pharmaceutical powerhouse in cannabis, surpassing exports of cocoa, rubber and manufactures”, adding that in addition to the projection of the global market, It is estimated that by 2030 the pharmaceutical sector in Colombia will generate 33.3 billion pesos, of which 3.29 percent (more than 1 billion) will correspond to medical cannabis.
Even in December 2019, Fedesarrollo published a report on the perspective of the business in Colombia, which estimates that by 2025 this industry would be generating export earnings of between 865 and 1,038 million dollars (between 3 and almost 4 trillion pesos), but it remains to be seen how this affects the pandemic.
Figures of medical marijuana.
Infographic / EL TIEMPO
Improve access for patients
The Government has been speeding up its processes. Between June 2019 and May 2020, the Ministry of Justice tripled the number of licenses granted, going from 238 to 742, and since March of this year, the Ministry of Health authorized the sale of master cannabis preparations, which allow prescribing formulas specific for each patient.
As of June this year, Invima had certified 98 establishments in good drug manufacturing practices and 39 in good manufacturing practices for the manufacture of phytotherapeutic products, which allows them to make cannabis-based products provided they have authorized pharmaceutical forms. required for the approval of the sanitary registry. In addition, Invima has issued 14 export certifications for finished products with cannabis derivatives.
There are already 2 medicines with sanitary registration and there is a laboratory certified in Good Manufacturing Practices (BPE) that can make masterful formulas for patients
Source: El tiempo
By: María Isabel Ortiz
