Economy & Business - October 2021

The ExpoCannaBiz business conference that took place in the northern city of Cartagena (Bolívar department) on 16 September was the first major event for the medicinal cannabis industry to take place in Colombia since new regulations targeting the sector were introduced on 23 July. On that date, President Iván Duque signed Decree 811, which will modify Decree 613, introduced in 2017 to regulate the medicinal cannabis industry in Colombia. It comes after two years of consultation with industry experts. The main impact of the legislation will be to legalise the export of dried cannabis flowers, which was prohibited by the 2017 decree. The health ministry announced this September that it hoped the legislation would be ready for implementation on 23 October, following a public consultation beginning 21 September.