Though the move has not yet been signed into law, Colombia’s Justice Minister Yesid Reyes announced Congress’ approval of the bill in an interview with local radio station Caracol Radio.
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The text of the document, released in digital versions by several media outlets, legalizes “the possession and cultivation of cannabis seeds and plants” and seeks to regulate the processes of production, manufacture, export, distribution, trade, use and possession of pot and its derivatives for strictly medical and scientific purposes. “Nowadays, all marijuana plantations are illegal”, he emphasized.
But unlike many of its neighbors, Colombia has always been identified with U.S.-backed policies to eradicate drug production and a sharp decline in levels of violence over the past 15 years is largely attributed to the no-tolerance policing. It also follows similar efforts in Mexico and Chile, which have recently adopted legalization and decriminalization policies.
Colombians for two decades have been allowed to possess small quantities of any narcotic for personal use thanks to a series of Constitutional Court rulings guaranteeing the “free development of one’s personality”.
However, supporters and opponents inside and outside of Congress warned that the government’s decree should first have to pass Congress. But the move has not come without its critics, such as the conservative Inspector General Alejandro Ordonez, who said he will review the government’s decree because it “weakens the fight against drugs and threatens the young, children and families in every part of the country”.
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Juan Manuel Galan, the sponsor of the bill seeking the legalization of medical marijuana, said that “the regulation must proceed the legal way, which is what will give the judicial security and stability to a regulatory framework of medicinal and therapeutic consumption”.
