More than 17 acres of land owned by a Colombian-Canadian company near Bogota were once meant to grow 25 varieties of cannabis, but over the past year weeds have overtaken greenhouses and 200 of its 218 employees have been fired.
The company is a victim of long-running problems for Colombia’s legal marijuana industry, which attracted huge investment after cannabis was legalized for medicinal use in 2017. At the time, Colombia was one of the first countries in Latin America to pass such legislation and held out the promise of legalizing marijuana sales for recreational use next.
Six years later, a number of local cannabis producers are facing closure because of regulatory demands for expensive and years-long studies on medicine composition before products can be sold domestically, say industry players, analysts and the sector’s industry association.
In addition, a law to legalize recreational use of cannabis failed for the fifth time in Congress last week, and a measure coming into force in February will oblige companies to destroy inventories which are over two years old.
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