Strain Library

Colombia

Colombian Gold

Also called Santa Marta Colombian Gold, Santa Marta, Santa Marta Gold, Colombian

Colombian Gold, also called Santa Marta Gold, is the name given to herb grown on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta on Colombia's Caribbean coast. Cannabis was known in Colombia by the 1920s, but export planting began in the 1960s, growing out of the region's long smuggling tradition. The 'bonanza marimbera' peaked between about 1972 and 1978, when Colombia supplied most of the US market. One recent scholarly review describes Santa Marta Gold as a variety developed during the boom through exchange between American investors and local growers; the popular story that Peace Corps volunteers brought the seed is disputed. A US-backed crackdown from 1978, including aerial spraying, and the rise of cocaine ended the trade. Industry lore credits it as a parent of Skunk #1.

Region
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Caribbean coast
How sure we are
Mixed. The Santa Marta boom is well documented by academic history, but the variety's own origin and any 'landrace' status are not.
Keep in mind
Scholars describe Santa Marta Gold as a variety shaped during the 1970s export boom, and samples sold today as Colombian Gold are generally modern seed-bank lines, not the original crop.

Timeline

  1. 1960s Export plantings begin on the Sierra Nevada slopes, building on the region's contraband trade; cultivation in Colombia is recorded from the 1920s-30s. Source
  2. 1972-1978 The boom's peak: Colombia becomes the main supplier of marijuana to the United States, at one point about 70 percent of the market. Source
  3. 1978 Colombian and US governments launch a militarised campaign to eradicate crops and increase interdiction. Source
  4. Late 1970s The US-backed Two Peninsulas campaign targets growing areas, including aerial spraying; cocaine then displaces marijuana. Source
  5. 3 Sep 1979 A UPI report from Riohacha describes the army seizing a load of 'Santa Marta Gold' from the Santa Marta mountains and preparing to burn it. Source

Sources

  1. Review of Britto, Marijuana Boom (Bonivento, 2021)
  2. Review of Britto, Marijuana Boom (Molina Palacio, Cuadernos de Historia, 2025)
  3. Review of Marijuana Boom (Crandall and Richardson, Rutgers CLCJ, 2020)
  4. Britto, Marijuana fueled the Colombian drug trade before cocaine was king (The National Interest / The Conversation, 2020)
  5. Columbia cracking down on $2 billion marijuana industry (UPI, in The Battalion, 3 Sep 1979)
  6. Weeds of peace (IDPC, 2016)
  7. The Cold War Killed Cannabis As We Knew It (Defector, 2022) - Skunk lineage claim, industry lore
  8. Marijuana Boom (UC Press)

All landrace strainsThe cannabis timeline

Written from the sources above. Informational only, not medical advice.