AFFAIRS FOREIGN Insights from a Former Cannabis Regulator Colombian official drew from policy in Colorado, Germany and Uruguay to form medical cannabis framework By Alfredo Pascual A ndrés López is a chemist who started to work in the national narcotics office (FNE) of the Colombian Ministry of Health in 2007. He joined the drug policy office in the Ministry of Justice in 2013. In December of that year, López developed a major interest in cannabis regulation. He attended an intergovernmental meeting in Bogota, where the heads of drug agencies across the Americas discussed how they could team up to combat drug trafficking. Coincidentally, the meeting occurred the same year Uruguay became the first country to fully legalize cannabis-a hot topic among the attendees. After the meeting, López started developing proposals and technical documents to 80 Marijuana Business Magazine | September 2020 support a Colombian cannabis law that was being drafted to legalize cannabis for medical and scientific purposes. In mid-2016, when Colombian Law 1787 was approved, López returned to the FNE as general director to oversee the implementation of the cannabis law. He stayed at the agency until mid-2019. López shared some of his experiences with Marijuana Business Magazine.