Colombia Authorizes Export Of Dried Cannabis Flowers

Colombia gave the green light Friday to export dried cannabis flowers for use in medical products in addition to allowing manufacturers to produce goods such as textiles or food containing the plant.

In a bold embrace of a booming global market, President Ivan Duque signed a decree ending “the ban on the export of dried flower” in an event organized at Clever Leaves, one of the 18 multinationals that grows medicinal cannabis in Colombia.

Colombia “is coming in as a major player in the international market” for cannabis, Duque said.

Colombia, the world’s top producer of cocaine and which has major cannabis production, legalized the production of medical marijuana in 2016.

Until now, however, it was only allowed to export extracts of the plant, not its flowers.

Authorities had feared that exportation of the flowers would allow them to be diverted to the illegal side of the trade.

In a letter sent to Duque on July 14, the cannabis cultivation company Canamonte argued that a rule against exportation of the flowers prevented growers from “accessing the largest and most profitable market segment of the medical cannabis industry.”