Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a decree Tuesday legalizing and regulating medical marijuana, the latest softening of the country’s hardline tactics in the war on drugs.

Now that the decree had been passed, cultivators can apply for licenses from the National Narcotics Council, and manufacturers from the health ministry. Colombia is planning to give tracts of land to affected coca farmers.

One month after the government announced it would legalize by decree the medical use of marijuana in Colombia, senators approved a similar proposal in a plenary session on Friday.

The legislation will be debated in the Chamber of Representatives next year before it may become law.

According to the bill, the ministries of Justice, Health and Agriculture, gathered in the Council on Narcotics, will take charge of allocating licenses to marijuana cultivators.

Liberal Senator Juan Manuel Galan, who introduced the bill, argued that the measure will help millions of people who suffer from pain, multiple sclerosis, AIDS or cancer.

The plant is a gift from God and the problem is not its use, but its abuse, says retired bishop Jose de Jesus Rodriguez Pimiento

Radio Vatikan reports that in a recent conversation about the legalization of marijuana, Colombian cardinal, Jose de Jesus Rodriguez Pimiento, says he supports using the plant for medical and therapeutic use.

“Marijuana is made by God, and as such, it is a good part of creation,” he said.

Every year Colombian mother Ines Cano celebrates her daughter's birthday by getting a butterfly tattoo, her way of giving thanks that little Luna has survived another year of chronic epilepsy.

Ines is up to 12 tattoos now, and is hopeful of adding many more thanks to the medical marijuana treatments she says have changed their lives, and which Colombia is now in the process of legalizing and regulating.

The 12 tattoos could also represent the number of anti-seizure medications she tried previously, to little effect.

"Every day Luna had seizures when she woke up and went to sleep. She could convulse for one or two hours," said Ines, who carried her developmentally delayed daughter on her back for seven years until she learned to walk.

Earlier this month, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos announced a decree that created a regulatory legal licensing framework for the cultivation, processing, research and development and exportation of cannabis for scientific and medical purposes.

On Friday, Nov. 13, Reuters commented on the decree, writing it would legalize medical marijuana “in a further shift in drug policy after suspending aerial fumigation of illicit crops.” Reuters added that, “President Juan Manuel Santos told BBC Mundo the decree would be signed in the coming days.”

It’s an interesting time for marijuana, more US states are looking ahead to full legalization and Canada is moving forward with a wide scale plan which could eventually legalize cannabis across the whole country. Jamaica is getting serious about building a cannabis industry and more countries such as Columbia, Australia, and New Zealand are looking at changing their laws to accommodate marijuana on a medical basis.

Here are the top 10 business sectors that will thrive under this process:

1. Agriculture

Just as a Washington Post report last week showed Colombia had overtaken Peru in 2014 to once again become the world’s largest coca producer, the Colombian government announced a plan that could turn a different drug into a major (legal) business.

On Thursday, Colombia’s ministers of Agriculture, Health and Justice announced a new decree that would legalize and regulate marijuana for medical use.

It’s a controversial move in a country already known for its illegal drug industry — but the potential economic upsides are significant.

One of the world's top drug producing countries, Columbia, is planning to legalise medical marijuana. The country's president Juan Manuel Santos said recently that he would sign a decree sometime this week, which would control the use, production, and export of medicinal marijuana.

Colombian officials are betting that this move could become big business as it would increase the exports of legal marijuana. Santos, who opined that there was a big demand, told the BBC, "There are already firms in Canada and the US that are using marijuana for a variety of therapeutic, medicinal treatments."

LIMA, Peru — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is expected to issue a decree legalizing the cultivation, commercialization and research of medical marijuana.

He said he will sign the new measure into law this week, marking a bold departure both for his center right administration and for Colombia, a staunch longtime ally of Washington in the war on drugs.

“It has already been scientifically proven that marijuana has many medicinal attributes,” Santos told the BBC.

BOGOTA—

Colombia said on Friday it plans to legalize medical marijuana in a further shift in drug policy after suspending aerial fumigation of illicit crops.

The government is preparing a decree which would approve the therapeutic use of marijuana, the president's office said in an information sheet, and President Juan Manuel Santos told BBC Mundo the decree would be signed in the coming days.

Growing, distributing and selling cannabis will remain illegal. The South American country suspended spraying of illicit crops this year, citing cancer concerns related to the herbicide glyphosate.