A drug-growing country experiments with medical marijuana
Aug 8, 2016 18:29:21 GMT -5
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Post by scumbuster on Aug 8, 2016 18:29:21 GMT -5
COLOMBIANS called it the bonanza marimbera (marijuana bonanza). In the 1970s and 1980s smokers in the United States were especially partial to Santa Marta Gold, a variety of cannabis grown on the slopes of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada. It has “a sweet, intense aroma” and “powerful psychedelic effects”, says WeedWiki, a website. But government fumigators, plus competition from American-grown weed, ended the Santa Marta Goldrush. Farmers switched to coca, the raw material of cocaine.
Now Colombia hopes to cash in on a new cannabis-based bonanza, set off by legalisation in parts of the United States and elsewhere. The government recently licensed three companies to process extracts, resins and oils for treating such ailments as cancer, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. Its ambition is to build medical marijuana into a business as big as cut flowers, which bring in more than $1 billion in export revenue. Colombia could be “the winner of this emerging global market”, said Alejandro Gaviria, the health minister.
The three companies with permits to process cannabis—one Canadian and two Colombian—must wait until the government licenses the growing of the weed itself, probably next year. Also awaiting the go-ahead are Colombian growers, whose activities are unauthorised but tolerated.
They hope to move up the value chain. A co-operative of 53 farmers in Cuaca province, where half of Colombia’s marijuana is grown, is seeking licences to cultivate it, produce cannabis-based remedies and research the weed’s medicinal properties. This shows that the cannabis industry “can change a problem into an opportunity”, said Mr Gaviria.
It could also help solve the coca problem. The area under production jumped by 39% last year. One reason is that farmers are profiting all they can before a peace accord is signed by FARC guerrillas and the government, after 52 years of war. That would oblige the FARC to fight the drug trade, from which they have long profited. Cannabis would be less lucrative, but it might provide pain relief.
www.economist.com/news/americas/21703415-drug-growing-country-experiments-medical-marijuana-weeds-peace?fsrc=scn/fb/te/pe/ed/weedsofpeace
Now Colombia hopes to cash in on a new cannabis-based bonanza, set off by legalisation in parts of the United States and elsewhere. The government recently licensed three companies to process extracts, resins and oils for treating such ailments as cancer, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. Its ambition is to build medical marijuana into a business as big as cut flowers, which bring in more than $1 billion in export revenue. Colombia could be “the winner of this emerging global market”, said Alejandro Gaviria, the health minister.
The three companies with permits to process cannabis—one Canadian and two Colombian—must wait until the government licenses the growing of the weed itself, probably next year. Also awaiting the go-ahead are Colombian growers, whose activities are unauthorised but tolerated.
They hope to move up the value chain. A co-operative of 53 farmers in Cuaca province, where half of Colombia’s marijuana is grown, is seeking licences to cultivate it, produce cannabis-based remedies and research the weed’s medicinal properties. This shows that the cannabis industry “can change a problem into an opportunity”, said Mr Gaviria.
It could also help solve the coca problem. The area under production jumped by 39% last year. One reason is that farmers are profiting all they can before a peace accord is signed by FARC guerrillas and the government, after 52 years of war. That would oblige the FARC to fight the drug trade, from which they have long profited. Cannabis would be less lucrative, but it might provide pain relief.
www.economist.com/news/americas/21703415-drug-growing-country-experiments-medical-marijuana-weeds-peace?fsrc=scn/fb/te/pe/ed/weedsofpeace