Colombia can grow medical cannabis at low cost and pharmaceutical quality. Getting it to a patient in Europe or Australia is a regulatory relay race with authorities at both ends. This guide maps the course so producers and partners know what each leg involves.
1. The Colombian framework
Medical and scientific cannabis is regulated under Law 1787 of 2016. The current licensing rules come from Decree 811 of 2021, which also opened the way for exporting dried flower for medical and scientific purposes, with implementing rules following in 2022.
Licences are split between authorities:
| Activity | Authority |
|---|---|
| Seeds; cultivation of psychoactive and non-psychoactive cannabis | Ministry of Justice and Law (MinJusticia) |
| Manufacture of cannabis derivatives | Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MinSalud) |
| Registration of cultivars for agronomic use | Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) |
| Medicines and phytotherapeutic products | INVIMA |
| Controlled substances and international movements | National Narcotics Fund (FNE), with MinJusticia |
2. Quota
Psychoactive cannabis is a controlled substance under the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961. Colombia therefore manages production through quotas, quantities allocated to individual licence holders within the country’s annual estimates reported to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). A cultivation licence without allocated quota cannot lawfully produce psychoactive cannabis for sale. Quota status is not public, which is why it is one of the first things a serious counterparty asks about.
3. Quality: GACP and GMP
Destination markets accept only product made to pharmaceutical standards: cultivation to GACP and processing at a GMP site acceptable to the importing country’s regulator, which for the EU means EU-GMP. See our GACP and EU-GMP guide for detail.
4. Matching permits at both ends
International movement of controlled substances follows the same principle everywhere: the importing country authorises the import first, and the exporting country then authorises the export against that import authorisation. Each shipment needs its own paperwork, and quantities must stay within both countries’ estimates.
5. Destination markets
Germany
- Since April 2024, medical cannabis has been regulated under the Medical Cannabis Act (MedCanG), outside the narcotics law.
- Importers still need permission from the federal institute BfArM, and product must meet pharmaceutical quality and GMP requirements, including batch release by an EU Qualified Person.
- Supply reaches patients on prescription through pharmacies.
United Kingdom
- Cannabis-based products for medicinal use have been prescribable since November 2018, but only by doctors on the GMC Specialist Register.
- Importers need Home Office controlled-drug licences, including an import licence for each consignment, and usually an MHRA wholesale dealer’s licence. Most products are supplied as unlicensed medicines (“specials”).
- Product must meet GMP standards acceptable to the MHRA.
Australia
- Importers need a licence and a permit for each shipment from the Office of Drug Control.
- Product must comply with the TGA’s quality standard for medicinal cannabis, TGO 93.
- Patients access product through TGA pathways such as the Special Access Scheme and Authorised Prescribers.
6. A realistic sequence
- Confirm the licence is current on the MinJusticia register and that quota is allocated.
- Register cultivars with ICA, and document cultivation to GACP.
- Secure GMP processing, either your own inspected site or a written agreement with a certified processor.
- Agree specifications and supply terms with a licensed importer in the destination market.
- The importer obtains its import authorisation, and the Colombian export authorisation follows.
- Ship, test and release in the destination market before supply to pharmacies and patients.
Each step takes months, not weeks. The operators who succeed tend to be the ones who start with the evidence, not the order.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Regulations and procedures change, and details vary by product and case. Always confirm current requirements with the authorities named and with qualified counsel in each country. Last reviewed 6 November 2026.
Sources
- Law 1787 of 2016; Decree 811 of 2021 (Colombia).
- United Nations, Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961; International Narcotics Control Board.
- Medizinal-Cannabisgesetz (MedCanG), Germany, 2024; BfArM.
- UK Home Office, Controlled drugs licensing; MHRA; The Misuse of Drugs (Amendments) (Cannabis and Licence Fees) Regulations 2018.
- Australian Government Department of Health, Office of Drug Control; TGA, Therapeutic Goods (Standard for Medicinal Cannabis) (TGO 93) Order 2017.