Colombia's House of Representatives First Committee cleared a marijuana legalization bill on May 12, sending legislation by Rep. Alejandro Ocampo to the full chamber for a vote. House approval would trigger two additional Senate votes before it could become law.
The bill, as first reported by Infobae, would allow adults 18 and older to buy up to 20 grams of cannabis flower and 5 grams of concentrates per day, with a 20 percent sales tax. Personal cultivation of up to 20 plants per person would be permitted, and non-profit cannabis clubs could grow up to 200 plants to supply members. People with prior cannabis convictions could apply for expungement and release from custody.
The measure reserves 70 percent of cultivation licenses for ethnic and peasant associations and requires that at least half of all legally distributed cannabis come from crops those communities grow. Cannabis advertising would be restricted to limit exposure to minors, with the government required to run public awareness campaigns on the risks of use.
“We just approved the regulation of cannabis in the first debate. It’s time to regulate. We’re going to regulate everything from seed to finished product,” Ocampo said. “We’re going to keep marijuana off the streets so that it can only be sold in places where you have to show your ID, have a permit, and have a license.”
Colombia has pursued legalization through several prior attempts. A proposed constitutional amendment failed at the final Senate vote in 2023, and a separate bill cleared its first stage last year before stalling. President Gustavo Petro, who backs legalization, said in late 2023 that lawmakers who shelved that year’s bill only helped perpetuate illegal drug trafficking and the violence tied to the unregulated trade. He also urged U.S. President Donald Trump to replace marijuana prohibition with a regulatory framework allowing adult use and international cannabis exports.
At a 2022 Senate panel, Colombia’s justice minister said the country had been the victim of “a failed war that was designed 50 years ago and, due to absurd prohibitionism, has brought us a lot of blood, armed conflict, mafias and crime.” At the 2023 Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Drugs, Petro called the drug war “a genocide,” saying Colombia and Mexico “are the biggest victims of this policy.” That same year he also addressed the United Nations, urging member states to abandon drug prohibition.
