{"id":5256,"date":"2015-12-25T21:48:08","date_gmt":"2015-12-25T21:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/?p=45910"},"modified":"2015-12-25T21:48:08","modified_gmt":"2015-12-25T21:48:08","slug":"colombian-president-signs-decree-legalizing-and-regulating-medical-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colombian-president-signs-decree-legalizing-and-regulating-medical-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombian President Signs Decree Legalizing And Regulating Medical Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colombian-president-signs-decree-legalizing-and-regulating-medical-marijuana\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Joining America&#8217;s 23 states that have legalized medicinal cannabis for the benefit of its citizens, Colombia&#8217;s President Juan Manuel Santos put pen to paper on Tuesday, signing a decree that legalized the cultivation and distribution of marijuana for medical purposes.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/colombia-legalizes-medical-marijuana-171023547.html#Colombia%20legalizes%20medical%20marijuana\" target=\"_blank\">Yahoo News<\/a>:<\/p>\n<h5>\u201cSantos announced it would be fully legal to grow, process, import and export cannabis and its derivatives for medical and scientific use.\u201d<\/h5>\n<p>Representing an important shift in Columbia\u2019s war on drugs, which has long sided with America&#8217;s misguided policy aimed at extinguishing the cultivation of illegal narcotics, Pres. Santos noted during the signing ceremony that his new decree &#8220;represents a major step that puts Colombia at the vanguard and forefront of the fight against illnesses.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that Colombia\u2019s citizens have been allowed to possess minute amounts of any narcotic for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/ethan-nadelmann\/colombia-decriminalizes-c_b_1638395.html#Colombia%20Decriminalizes%20Cocaine%20and%20Marijuana,%20As%20Latin%20American%20Momentum%20for%20Drug%20Policy%20Reform%20Continues\">personal use<\/a> for several years, Columbia&#8217;s medical marijuana program has lingered in a legislative purgatory \u2013 with no tangible regulations. But now, thanks to the new presidential decree, citizens of Columbia can apply for a cultivation license.<\/p>\n<p>With this announcement Columbia will be joining a rather interesting club south of the U.S. border. Uniting with countries like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/blog\/news\/2014\/12\/uruguay-proceeding-with-marijuana-legalization-rollout\/#%20Uruguay%20Proceeding%20With%20Marijuana%20Legalization%20Rollout\">Uruguay<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/blog\/news\/2015\/04\/chile-harvests-nations-first-medical-marijuana-crop-ever\/#%20Chile%20Harvests%20Nations%20First%20Medical%20Marijuana%20Crop%20Ever!\">Chile<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/blog\/news\/2015\/11\/mexicos-supreme-court-green-lights-pathway-towards-legalization\/#%20Mexico\u2019s%20Supreme%20Court%20Green%20Lights%20Pathway%20Towards%20Legalization\">Mexico<\/a>, which have recently rolled out new policies that embrace marijuana reform. Columbia\u2019s newest presidential decree represents a surge of changing attitudes towards marijuana consumption and its potential medicinal benefits for those in Latin America.<\/p>\n<p>(Photo Courtesy of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-latin-america-28797270#Colombian%20President%20Santos%20backs%20medical%20marijuana%20use%20\">BBC<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='702' height='425' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p3qlaTCgsSs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'><\/iframe><\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joining America&#8217;s 23 states that have legalized medicinal cannabis for the benefit of its citizens, Colombia&#8217;s President Juan Manuel Santos put pen to paper on Tuesday, signing a decree that legalized the cultivation and distribution of marijuana for medical purposes. According to Yahoo News: \u201cSantos announced it would be fully legal to grow, process, import [&#8230;] <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[356,5001,2437,9,5002,1,3],"tags":[2934,5003,2443,5004],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}