The cannabis industry may be disproportionately male, but pioneering women across the globe are thinking outside the box to return cannabis to the mainstream of medicine and society. In Colombia, Dr. Paola Pineda Villegas, a surgeon with a master’s degree in the study of HIV and a specialist in medical and sanitary law, is just such a leader. 

Pineda, 37, has been the most cited expert on medical cannabis in Colombia in recent years, as interest in the plant’s medicinal use has grown. She’s been hailed by the press as "the cannabis doctor” and has treated more than a thousand patients. 

PharmaCielo will open curative cannabis production in Colombia with crops in Antioquia. Its president, Jon Ruiz, received the first government license.

In the coming days, Jon Ruiz, president and CEO of PharmaCielo Colombia Holdings will receive the first license to be issued in Colombia to grow, process, and sell marijuana for medicinal purposes. A business without precedent in legal history. The company, Colombo-Canadian, plans to plant 600 hectares of cannabis in Rionegro, Antioquia, to produce natural oils that keep more than 98% of the active elements of the plant.

The global conversation on marijuana legalization has reached its highest volume yet. Already, some countries, the United States included, have pioneered past decriminalization and into some form of legalization. Few have fully legalized marijuana — and have yet to transform into total hellscapes from it. 

The Colombian Senate approved a bill that legalizes the use and cultivation of marijuana for medical purpose, making it the fourth Latin American country to relax its marijuana laws.

The bill, which still must be approved by the Constitutional Court and signed by President Juan Manuel Santos, will replace an existing decree issued by the president in December.

The bill was promoted by Senator Juan Manuel Galan, who said on his Twitter account that he considered it a “historic day” and a victory for patients.

Galan also shared a video featuring a family who pushed for the legalization of medical marijuana.

Although in the country no one was penalized, and a decree was signed in December regulated its use for medicinal purposes, only a law could protect the initiative.

The House of Representatives, for lack of a quorum, suspended the approval of the bill that would put the country at the same level of Chile, Puerto Rico and Uruguay on issues of use and consumption of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Senator Juan Manuel Galan, speaker for the project, said that the law shall regulate the planting, cultivation and distribution of cannabis and medicinal products based on this plant.

Boyaca, a province in central Colombia, is set to be the first in the country to begin production of medical marijuana, according to local media.

The Government of Boyaca, Canadian laboratory Canavida and the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia (UPTC) has been promoting the project that seeks to grow marijuana in several greenhouses across the department

The project aims to further drug research, particularly in relation to curing epilepsy and cancer.

These days, it feels like everyone in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, is talking about cannabis. 

Since 1996, two dozen states have approved medical marijuana laws in the U.S. The most recent was Pennsylvania, which passed medical marijuana legislation just last month. We've also witnessed four states legalize the sale of recreational marijuana.

For medical marijuana patients, approval of the drug at the state level means possible new pathways to treatment. Though each state typically differs on what diseases and disorders qualify, glaucoma, epilepsy, and most terminal cancers are ailments that commonly fit the bill. For the states themselves, legalization is primarily motivated by the additional revenue-generating potential. Since marijuana is taxed, medical marijuana provides a way for states to funnel extra money to schools or law enforcement.

People smoke weed throughout the streets for legalization.

Thousands of Colombians flocked the streets of Bogota and Medellin smoking marijuana through fruit crafted smoke devices such as apple, watermelon and pineapple bongs to call for legalization of marijuana worldwide. Dubbed the “Global Marijuana March” protesters in Colombia believe that use of marijuana should be allowed both medically and for recreational use.

In Colombia the cannabis laws are very lenient and a person can be in possession of up to 22 grams for personal use without facing persecution but selling and transporting cannabis is only legal for scientific and medical purposes.

I have just watched the closing plenary session of the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem here in New York. Presidents and Prime Ministers will now move on to the climate change summit that opens tomorrow, and the thousands of government and NGO delegates who have filled the UN building in Manhattan over the last 3 days will catch their flights back to all corners of the globe. So was it worth it – three years of preparation, tens of millions of dollars of travel and meeting costs, and countless hours of debate and negotiation. Is the international community any better placed to reduce the health, social and economic problems associated with illicit drug markets?