Cannabis law in Colombia
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Cannabis law in Colombia is the body of statutes, decrees, treaties and court rulings by which the Colombian state has governed the cannabis plant, its products and the people who grow, carry, sell and use them. It begins with a law of 1920 that allowed cánnabis índica to be sold only on a written prescription.[1] Growing marijuana has been prohibited since 1939.[2]: 209 Law 30 of 1986, the national narcotics statute, defines the personal dose and the plantation and makes growing depend on a licence.[3] Carrying a personal dose stopped being a criminal matter after a ruling of the Constitutional Court in 1994.[4]
Since 2015 the state has licensed the growing of cannabis for medical and scientific use.[5] Decrees of 2017 and 2021 leave up to 20 plants grown for personal use outside that licensing.[6][7] A law of 2022 set a separate framework for hemp.[8] An amendment to the Constitution that would have allowed a regulated market for adult use passed its first round in Congress in 2022 and failed in the Senate in June 2023; later proposals were archived.[9][10][11][12]
Drug laws before the national statute (1920–1974)
Law 11 of 1920, on the import and sale of drugs "que formen hábito pernicioso" (that form a harmful habit), named cánnabis índica among the substances that could be sold wholesale or retail only on a written prescription.[1]
Resolution 645 of 18 September 1939 of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Welfare prohibited the cultivation of marijuana and ordered existing plantations destroyed.[2]: 209[13] Decree 896 of 1947 prohibited the growing of coca and of "cannabis sativa (marihuana)" together with the sale of their leaves; the opposition it met led the government to suspend it.[14] Decree 923 of 4 April 1949 brought marijuana, "cannabis sativa and the varieties thereof" in the official English translation, under the penalties of Law 45 of 1946. It prohibited growing and trading the plant throughout the country, ordered plantations destroyed and set prison terms of six months to five years with a fine of 50 to 1,000 pesos. Its preamble stated that "the said shrub has no therapeutic properties".[13] Decree 1858 of 1951 classed growers, dealers and users of marijuana as maleantes (malefactors). Decree 0014 of 1955 raised the penalties.[15]: 74[2]: 213
Decree 522 of 27 March 1971, which restored some articles of the Penal Code and turned some police contraventions into crimes, set new drug offences. Supplying marijuana without the permission of the competent authority was punished with one to four years' relegation to an agricultural colony; growing or keeping a plant from which marijuana could be extracted was also punished with relegation; carrying a drug in a public place without showing that it was held lawfully carried one to 18 months' arrest.[16] Law 17 of 1973 gave the president extraordinary powers to issue a statute on drugs that produce dependence. Under those powers Decree 1188 of 25 June 1974 issued an Estatuto Nacional de Estupefacientes (National Narcotics Statute). It defined a plantation as "una pluralidad de plantas en proceso de desarrollo" (a plurality of plants in the course of growth) from which such drugs could be extracted. Growing or keeping such a plant without permission carried two to eight years' imprisonment. Where the quantity a person carried was a personal dose, the penalty was one month to two years' arrest.[17]
Treaties
Law 13 of 29 November 1974 approved the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 and its 1972 Protocol; Law 43 of 29 December 1980 approved the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.[18] Colombia acceded to the Single Convention and the Protocol on 3 March 1975 and to the 1971 Convention on 12 May 1981.[19][20][21]
Colombia signed the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances on 20 December 1988, with a reservation to article 9, paragraph 1.[22] Law 67 of 23 August 1993 approved the convention.[23] Reviewing that law in Sentencia C-176 of 12 April 1994, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the second of the reservations Congress had attached and upheld the second declaration on condition that it reserve to Colombia the right to assess for itself the ecological impact of anti-narcotics policies.[24] Colombia ratified the convention on 10 June 1994 with three reservations and nine declarations. In the second declaration it stated that treating the cultivation of coca leaf as a criminal offence "must be harmonized with a policy of alternative development, taking into account the rights of the indigenous communities involved and the protection of the environment".[22]
The statute of 1986
Law 30 of 31 January 1986 adopted the Estatuto Nacional de Estupefacientes as a law of Congress. A plantation is more than 20 plants from which dependence-producing drugs can be extracted,[25] and the personal dose is the quantity a person carries or keeps for their own consumption: up to 20 grams of marijuana or 5 grams of hashish. A drug carried for distribution or sale is not a personal dose, whatever the quantity.[26]
Production, trade, use and possession of narcotic drugs and the growing of the plants they come from are limited to medical and scientific ends. Those plants may be grown only under a licence from the National Narcotics Council (Consejo Nacional de Estupefacientes, attached to the Ministry of Justice). Holding seed for sowing them needs the council's prior authorisation. The council may order any unlicensed plantation destroyed or authorise its use for lawful ends. The council is also to regulate the growing of such plants and their consumption by indigenous peoples "de acuerdo con los usos y prácticas derivadas de su tradición y cultura" (in accordance with the uses and practices that derive from their tradition and culture).[3]
Article 32 punished growing, keeping or financing plantations of marijuana or other plants that yield dependence-producing drugs or holding more than a kilogram of their seed with four to twelve years in prison; the penalty was one to three years where the plants numbered more than 20 but not more than 100. Article 77 ordered the destruction of the plantations of marijuana, coca, poppy and other such plants existing in the national territory.[27]
The Ministry of Health's lists of controlled substances, as updated by Resolution 116 of 27 January 2026, place cannabis (the flowering or fruiting tops, together with derivatives containing 0.2 per cent THC or more) in Lists I and IV.[28]
The personal dose
Law 30 punished carrying, keeping for one's own use or consuming a personal dose of marijuana or any other dependence-producing drug: a first offence carried up to 30 days' arrest and a fine of half a monthly minimum wage. In Sentencia C-221 of 5 May 1994 the Constitutional Court declared that article unconstitutional, together with the one that sent people dependent on drugs who had committed no offence to treatment establishments. It upheld the definition of the personal dose. The Court held that "las normas que hacen del consumo de droga un delito, son claramente inconstitucionales" (the rules that make drug consumption a crime are clearly unconstitutional) as a matter of the right to the free development of personality.[4]
Acto Legislativo 02 of 21 December 2009 amended article 49 of the Constitution: "El porte y el consumo de sustancias estupefacientes o sicotrópicas está prohibido, salvo prescripción médica" (carrying and consuming narcotic or psychotropic substances is prohibited, except on medical prescription). For prevention and rehabilitation the law was to set administrative measures and treatments of a pedagogical, prophylactic or therapeutic kind, which require the informed consent of the addicted person.[29] In Sentencia C-574 of 22 July 2011 the Court declared itself unable to rule on a challenge to that sentence.[30] In Sentencia C-882 of 23 November 2011 it upheld the amendment against the one charge examined, the lack of prior consultation with ethnic communities, holding that the prohibition is aimed at drug addiction as a public-health problem and does not apply to indigenous communities' use of coca leaf.[31]
Law 1453 of 24 June 2011 rewrote the Penal Code's trafficking offence, article 376, with a lower penalty for quantities up to 1,000 grams of marijuana or 200 grams of hashish.[32] In Sentencia C-491 of 28 June 2012 the Court upheld the new article on the understanding that it does not penalise carrying or keeping a dose intended solely for personal consumption.[33] In the reading of the legal research centre Dejusticia, the Court held in these rulings that neither the 2009 amendment nor the 2011 change made the personal dose a crime.[34]
Decree 1844 of 1 October 2018 set a police procedure, under the 2016 National Police Code, for people found carrying or holding prohibited psychoactive substances such as marijuana in quantities no larger than the personal dose, providing for seizure of the substance and its destruction as a corrective measure.[18] Decree 2114 of 7 December 2023 repealed it.[35]
Growing outside the licensing system
Growing, keeping or financing plantations of marijuana without the permission of the competent authority is an offence under article 375 of the Penal Code.[36] Since Law 1787 of 2016 those penalties do not apply to medical and scientific use under licence.[37]
Decree 613 of 2017 defined self-cultivation (autocultivo) as no more than 20 cannabis plants from which drugs may be extracted solely for personal use. It exempted self-cultivation from cultivation licences and from the quota system.[6] Decree 811 of 2021 kept the 20-plant limit, confined self-cultivation to natural persons and gave the reason for the exemption: nothing grown this way may be exploited or passed to anyone else.[7] Decree 1138 of 2025 left the exemption in place.[38]
Medical and scientific licensing
Decree 2467 of 22 December 2015, issued under articles 3, 5, 6 and 8 of Law 30, set up licences for growing cannabis plants, holding seed for sowing and producing, manufacturing, exporting and importing cannabis derivatives for strictly medical and scientific purposes. The National Narcotics Council licensed seed and cultivation; the Ministry of Health and Social Protection licensed manufacture and the export of derivatives.[5]
Law 1787 of 6 July 2016 put the regime on a statutory footing. Its title, "Por medio de la cual se reglamenta el Acto Legislativo 02 de 2009" (by which Acto Legislativo 02 of 2009 is regulated), presents the medical-cannabis law as an implementing law of the 2009 amendment that prohibited carrying and consuming drugs except on prescription. Its object is safe and informed access to the medical and scientific use of cannabis. It places under state control the growing, production, trade, possession and use of cannabis seed, cannabis and its derivatives for those purposes.[39] Since a 2019 amendment, licences for derivatives are issued by the Instituto Nacional de Vigilancia de Medicamentos y Alimentos (Invima), the national regulator of medicines and food.[37]
Decree 613 of 10 April 2017 set out the licences: for the use of seed, for growing psychoactive cannabis, for growing non-psychoactive cannabis and for manufacturing derivatives, each valid for five years and renewable. It drew the line between the two kinds of plant at 1 per cent THC by dry weight. A chapter on small and medium growers, producers and traders of medical cannabis let them prove possession of their land by sworn declaration, called for security requirements adapted to them and for technical advice to their associations. Licence holders who work with such associations could ask for two more years on their licences.[6] Decree 811 of 23 July 2021 replaced those rules. Its scope covers medical and scientific uses of psychoactive and non-psychoactive cannabis and also seed, plant material, grain and non-psychoactive derivatives for industrial, horticultural and food uses.[7]
Decree 1138 of 27 October 2025 admitted the cannabis flower as a finished product for medical use. The export licence category became "uso nacional y exportación" (national use and export), so that harvested cannabis may also be delivered within Colombia as a medical product; the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) certifies unprocessed flower for sale and dispensing; and cannabis sold for direct human or veterinary consumption may be marketed only for medical purposes. The ministries were given five months to issue the technical rules. For two years from those rules, only licence holders who are small or medium growers, or micro or small enterprises, may grow cannabis as raw material for this domestic medical market.[38]
Hemp
Law 2204 of 10 May 2022 created a legal framework for the industrial and scientific use of the fibre and grain of hemp with a THC content of 0.3 per cent or less, or another figure the government sets. It does not apply to medical, scientific or adult use of cannabis. Growing for the flowering tops or above the threshold still needs the licences of the Law 1787 regulations.[8]
Adult use
A legislative act to amend article 49 of the Constitution and regulate "cannabis de uso adulto" (adult-use cannabis), filed in 2022 as Proyecto de Acto Legislativo 033 of 2022 in the Senate and 002 of 2022 in the Chamber of Representatives, passed the first of its two rounds when the Chamber's plenary approved it on 11 October 2022 and the Senate's on 6 December 2022. Decree 029 of 12 January 2023 ordered the first-round text published.[9] The magazine Semana reported that the Senate plenary voted on it in the last of its eight debates on 20 June 2023: 47 for and 43 against, short of the 54 votes needed, so the amendment failed.[10]
A further proposal filed in the Chamber on 20 July 2024 (013 of 2024) was archived.[11] Another, 003 of 2025, was filed on 20 July 2025; El Colombiano reported that it passed its first debate in the Chamber's First Committee with 23 votes in August 2025.[40] It too was later archived.[12] An ordinary bill to regulate adult-use cannabis (023 of 2025) stood in committee in November 2026.[41]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sobre importación y venta de drogas que formen hábito pernicioso(Ley No. 11), 15 September 1920, art. 1 (Diario Oficial No. 17.322, 20 September 1920).Colombia.Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Sáenz Rovner, Eduardo (2007). "La "prehistoria" de la marihuana en Colombia: consumo y cultivos entre los años 30 y 60" (PDF). Cuadernos de Economía (in español). XXVI (47): 205–222.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Por la cual se adopta el Estatuto Nacional de Estupefacientes y se dictan otras disposiciones(Ley No. 30), 31 January 1986, arts. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 89 (Diario Oficial No. 37.335, 5 February 1986).Colombia.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sentencia C-221/94. Corte Constitucional de Colombia (5 May 1994). Expediente D-429; resolutive part, arts. 51 and 87 of Ley 30 de 1986. Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Por el cual se reglamentan los aspectos de que tratan los artículos 3, 5, 6 y 8 de la Ley 30 de 1986(Decreto No. 2467), 22 December 2015, arts. 1 and 3 (Diario Oficial No. 49.734, 22 December 2015).Colombia, Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Por el cual se reglamenta la Ley 1787 de 2016 y se subroga el Título 11 de la Parte 8 del Libro 2 del Decreto 780 de 2016, en relación con el acceso seguro e informado al uso médico y científico del cannabis(Decreto No. 613), 10 April 2017, art. 1 (Título 11, arts. 2.8.11.1.3, 2.8.11.2.1.2, 2.8.11.2.1.3 and 2.8.11.10.1–2.8.11.10.5).Colombia, Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social.Retrieved 2 November 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Por el cual se sustituye el Título 11 de la Parte 8 del Libro 2 del Decreto 780 de 2016, Único Reglamentario del Sector Salud y Protección Social, en relación con el acceso seguro e informado al uso del cannabis y de la planta de cannabis(Decreto No. 811), 23 July 2021, arts. 2.8.11.1.1, 2.8.11.1.3 (num. 7) and 2.8.11.2.1.2 (par.) (Diario Oficial No. 51.744, 23 July 2021).Colombia, Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Por la cual se crea el marco legal para el uso industrial y científico del cáñamo en Colombia y se dictan otras disposiciones(Ley No. 2204), 10 May 2022, arts. 1 and 2 (Diario Oficial No. 52.030, 10 May 2022).Colombia.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Por el cual se ordena la publicación del Proyecto de Acto Legislativo No. 033 de 2022 Senado - 002 de 2022 Cámara «Por medio del cual se modifica el artículo 49 de la Constitución Política de Colombia, se regulariza el cannabis de uso adulto y se dictan otras disposiciones» (Primera Vuelta)(Decreto No. 029), 12 January 2023, considerandos; art. 1.Colombia.Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Se hundió regulación de la marihuana de uso adulto. Senado le dio la estocada en último debate". Semana (in español). Bogotá. 20 June 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Cannabis de uso adulto (Proyecto 013/2024C)". Cámara de Representantes (in español). Retrieved 2 November 2026.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Cannabis de uso adulto (Proyecto 003/2025C)". Cámara de Representantes (in español). Retrieved 2 November 2026.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Secretary-General of the United Nations (10 July 1949). Laws and regulations communicated in compliance with the terms of the Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs of 13 July 1931 as amended by the Protocol of 11 December 1946: Colombia, 1949 (PDF) (Report). E/NL.1949/35. Retrieved 1 November 2026 – via United Nations Digital Library.
- ↑ "The coca-leaf problem in Colombia". Bulletin on Narcotics (2). United Nations. 1952. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Britto, Lina (2020). Marijuana Boom: The Rise and Fall of Colombia's First Drug Paradise. Oakland: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-32547-0.
- ↑ Por el cual se restablece la vigencia de algunos artículos del Código Penal, se definen como delitos determinados hechos considerados hoy como contravenciones, se incorporan al Decreto-ley 1355 de 4 de agosto de 1970 determinadas contravenciones y se determina su competencia y procedimiento, se modifican y derogan algunas de las disposiciones de dicho Decreto, se deroga el Decreto-ley 1118 de 15 de julio de 1970 y se dictan otras disposiciones(Decreto No. 522), 27 March 1971, arts. 5, 6 and 8 (Diario Oficial No. 33.300, 29 April 1971).Colombia.Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Por el cual se expide el Estatuto Nacional de Estupefacientes(Decreto No. 1188), 25 June 1974, preamble; arts. 7, 37 and 38 (Diario Oficial No. 34.116, 8 July 1974).Colombia.Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Luvi Katherine Miranda Peña y Andrés Felipe Yepes Guzmán v. Nación – Presidencia de la República y otros. Consejo de Estado, Sala de lo Contencioso Administrativo, Sección Primera (15 October 2019). Radicación 11001-03-24-000-2018-00387-00 y 11001-03-24-000-2018-00399-00 (acumulados); auto que resuelve medida cautelar. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ "Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961". United Nations Treaty Collection. Chapter VI, 15. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ "Protocol amending the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961". United Nations Treaty Collection. Chapter VI, 17. Retrieved 13 October 2026.
- ↑ "Convention on Psychotropic Substances". United Nations Treaty Collection. Chapter VI, 16. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 "United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances". United Nations Treaty Collection. Chapter VI, 19. Retrieved 3 October 2026.
- ↑ Por medio de la cual se aprueba la "Convención de las Naciones Unidas contra el tráfico ilícito de estupefacientes y sustancias sicotrópicas", suscrita en Viena el 20 de diciembre de 1988(Ley No. 67), 23 August 1993, arts. 1 and 2 (Diario Oficial No. 41.003, 24 August 1993).Colombia.Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Sentencia C-176/94. Corte Constitucional de Colombia (12 April 1994). Expediente L.A.T.-021; resolutive part. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Por la cual se adopta el Estatuto Nacional de Estupefacientes y se dictan otras disposiciones(Ley No. 30), 31 January 1986, art. 2, lit. ñ (Diario Oficial No. 37.335, 5 February 1986).Colombia.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ Por la cual se adopta el Estatuto Nacional de Estupefacientes y se dictan otras disposiciones(Ley No. 30), 31 January 1986, art. 2, lit. j (Diario Oficial No. 37.335, 5 February 1986).Colombia.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ Por la cual se adopta el Estatuto Nacional de Estupefacientes y se dictan otras disposiciones(Ley No. 30), 31 January 1986, arts. 32 and 77 (Diario Oficial No. 37.335, 5 February 1986).Colombia.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ Por la cual se modifica el artículo 4 y los anexos técnicos adoptados en el artículo 2 de la Resolución 315 de 2020, para actualizar los listados de estupefacientes, psicotrópicos, precursores y demás sustancias sometidas a fiscalización, de aquellas clasificadas como monopolio del Estado y de los medicamentos de control especial de uso humano y veterinario, y se dictan otras disposiciones(Resolución No. 116), 27 January 2026, annex, entry 135 (p. 9).Colombia, Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social.Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Por el cual se reforma el artículo 49 de la Constitución Política(Acto Legislativo No. 02), 21 December 2009, art. 1 (Diario Oficial No. 47.570, 21 December 2009).Colombia.Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Sentencia C-574/11. Corte Constitucional de Colombia (22 July 2011). Expediente D-8371; resolutive part. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Sentencia C-882/11. Corte Constitucional de Colombia (23 November 2011). Expediente D-8386 y acumulados; resolutive part. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Por medio de la cual se reforma el Código Penal, el Código de Procedimiento Penal, el Código de Infancia y Adolescencia, las reglas sobre extinción de dominio y se dictan otras disposiciones en materia de seguridad(Ley No. 1453), 24 June 2011, art. 11 (Diario Oficial No. 48.110, 24 June 2011).Colombia.Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Sentencia C-491/12. Corte Constitucional de Colombia (28 June 2012). Expedientes D-8834 and D-8842 (acumulados); resolutive part. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ Pereira Arana, Isabel; Pérez, Sergio (6 May 2024). "Avances y paradojas: 30 años de la despenalización del uso y porte personal de drogas" (in español). Dejusticia. Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ "Decreto 2114 de 2023". Gestor Normativo (in español). Departamento Administrativo de la Función Pública. 7 December 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
- ↑ Por la cual se expide el Código Penal(Ley No. 599), 24 July 2000, art. 375 (Diario Oficial No. 44.097, 24 July 2000).Colombia.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 Por medio de la cual se reglamenta el Acto Legislativo 02 de 2009(Ley No. 1787), 6 July 2016, arts. 6 (as amended by Decreto Ley 2106 de 2019, art. 85) and 12 (Diario Oficial No. 49.926, 6 July 2016).Colombia.Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Por medio del cual se modifica parcialmente el Título 11 de la Parte 8 del Libro 2 del Decreto 780 de 2016, Único Reglamentario del Sector Salud y Protección Social, en relación con el acceso seguro e informado al uso del cannabis y de la planta de cannabis(Decreto No. 1138), 27 October 2025, arts. 1, 3, 4, 13, 16 and 17.Colombia, Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ Por medio de la cual se reglamenta el Acto Legislativo 02 de 2009(Ley No. 1787), 6 July 2016, arts. 1 and 3 (Diario Oficial No. 49.926, 6 July 2016).Colombia.Retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ "El Congreso vuelve a discutir la legalización del cannabis de uso adulto: proyecto avanza en primer debate en Cámara". El Colombiano (in español). Medellín. 21 August 2025. Retrieved 1 November 2026.
- ↑ "Ley regulación de cannabis de uso adulto (Proyecto 023/2025C)". Cámara de Representantes (in español). Retrieved 2 November 2026.