Canadian, US Cannabis Corporations Threaten Colombia's Indigenous Communities

Feb 18, 2021 | Fernanda Sanchez Jaramillo
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In 2016, when the Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) was signed, Colombia also introduced the legal growth, processing, and exportation of medical cannabis. To date, total investment in medical cannabis farms and laboratories in that country has reached approximately $600 million Canadian dollars, including “roughly $100 million invested by Canadian firms, which are among the first movers in the sector,” according to Michael Cullen and Miguel Salcedo, international consultants at FTI Consulting.

That same year, national authorities granted the first license to PharmaCielo, a Canadian corporation whose subsidiary company is located in Rionegro, in the province of Antioquia, and which employs 500 Colombians. According to PharmaCielo's media liaison, their commitment to their operations in Colombia overall has remained “unchanged since establishment.”

“It is the core of our business strategy, and we expect to continue to grow over time,” the spokesperson told Media Co-op in an email.

The company works with Seynekun, an association led by the Arhuaco people that serves indigenous communities working on different projects in the Sierra Nevada, located between the provinces of Magdalena and Cesar.

PharmaCielo also works with Caucannabis Cooperative, which seeks to improve people's health through medicinal cannabis. This cooperative has 63 members of different rural and ethnic groups, including farmers and members of the Nasa and Paeces indigenous communities who are spread across five municipalities: Jambaló, Corinto, Caloto, Miranda y Toribio, North Cauca.

Additionally, Asocolcanna, a Colombian association of cannabis industries, includes 30 members, at least eight of which are the Canadian and Colombian-Canadian companies Pharmacielo, Khiron, Nusierra, Ecopharma, Canopy Growth, Avicanna, Cleaver Leaves, Green Health, as well as other Canadian companies not named on its website, such as Verdemed and Aphria.

According to Fedesarrollo, a Colombian socio-economic research centre, the world’s cannabis market is expected to grow 44 per cent by 2025.

In 2019, One World Pharma, a US-based corporation, obtained Colombian licenses for non-psychoactive low-THC cultivation and the manufacture of hemp derivatives and seed use. They also touted their partnership with the Misak People for the cultivation, purchase and sale of non-psychoactive cannabis and hemp for medicinal and scientific research.

This company also works with Wala Cannabis. Both received the Medal Croix of Belalcázar from the provincial assembly thanks to their investments in 2019. (Belalcázar was a Spanish conqueror and founder of Popayán city in Cauca whose statue was toppled by Misak people last year.)

‘Cannabis isn’t part of our traditional medicine’

This massive influx of cannabis investment, however, puts the traditional living standards of indigenous nations like the Misak at risk. More than 26,000 Misak people live across the country in Cauca, Caquetá, Huila, Putumayo, Valle del Cauca, Cundinamarca and Meta provinces and many are uneasy about cannabis cultivation.