COLOMBIANGOLD

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Colombian Gold

No lineage on recordSativa-leaningType I — caryophyllene/limonene
Most-cited cross
Not yet sourced
Breeders on record
Brazilian Seed Company, North Atlantic Seed Co. (White Label), Zamnesia Seeds
Median THC
17.4% · 22 tests
Total terpenes
1.54%

Commonly reported: euphoric, happy, uplifted, energetic · tastes earthy

🧬 Look for DNA test reports on Kannapedia ↗

Type labels are reported marketing/morphology labels, not chemistry. Basis: type label.

Genetics

Family tree

No sourced parentage yet. Unknown beats invented.

Bred from Colombian Gold

Skunk #1HarlequinEl DoradoSkunk #11Columbo Skunk x Zeta S.A.G.E. x 82 SkunkColombian Skies

Genetics

Lineage claims

No sourced parentage yet.

    Lab data

    Cannabinoids

    Cannabinoid medians for Colombian Gold
    • THC17.4%n=22
    • CBG0.25%n=19
    • CBD0.15%n=12
    • CBC0.05%n=10
    • CBN0.00%n=4

    Bar = median; line = lowest to highest test. Public lab records; values vary by grower and lab.

    Lab data

    Terpenes

    Terpene medians for Colombian Gold
    • Limonene0.48%n=5
    • Myrcene0.27%n=5
    • β-Caryophyllene0.18%n=5
    • β-Pinene0.08%n=5
    • Humulene0.08%n=5
    • α-Pinene0.04%n=5
    • Linalool0.04%n=5
    • Camphene0.01%n=5

    Good for

    Use cases

    Use-case percentiles for Colombian Gold
    • Clear-headed77th
    • Stress74th
    • Appetite72th
    • Energy66th
    • Social62th
    • Pain43th
    • Creativity37th
    • Focus31th
    • Relaxation28th
    • Sleep17th

    Percentile vs. other strains, from user-reported effects plus lab terpenes. Terpene links to effects are hypotheses with weak evidence; faded bars are terpene-only.

    Dossier

    History & sources

    1. Summary

    "Colombian Gold", or "Santa Marta Gold", was the top grade of Colombian export marijuana during Colombia's bonanza marimbera. The historian Lina Britto (UC Press 2020) divides the boom into three phases. The Ascendance (mid-1960s–1970) ran through ports near Riohacha and Santa Marta. At the Peak (1972–1977, or 1972–1978 in another review), crops grown for export in the valleys of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta became a full export sector. The Decline began with criminalization and militarization from 1978, and an eradication and interdiction campaign ran from Nov 1978 to Mar 1980.12 The 1978 High Times Encyclopedia gives an altitude grading. Green sea-level grass matures in September–October. Brown, seedier grass grows at about 2,000 ft. Red strains begin maturing about December at about 4,000 ft, and the top grades, "Santa Marta Gold and 'rainbows'", grow at 5,000 ft.3 How cannabis seed reached the Sierra Nevada is disputed. The "canonical" story credits Peace Corps volunteers. Britto challenges it, pointing instead to treasure hunters (guaqueros) drawn to the Tayrona ruins, non–Peace Corps American hippies, and existing contraband links.2 High Times columnists lamented Santa Marta's decline in quality by 1980–82, blaming moldy commercial loads, fakes, Guajira militarization, the rise of cocaine and US homegrown.456 In the seed era, "Colombian Gold" is best known as one of the three stated landrace components of Skunk #1: Afghani, Acapulco Gold and Colombian Gold, per Sensi and Dutch Passion, while a 1988 HT description said Thai/Mexican/Afghan.78 Modern "Colombian Gold" seed (World of Seeds, Zamnesia and others) and US retail flower are not documented as Santa Marta landrace stock. A USDA germplasm record describes an Amsterdam c.1990 "Colombian" export-seed line as Colombian Gold × an old Northern Lights.910

    2. Identity

    • Names/aliases: Colombian Gold, Santa Marta Gold, "gold", dorado, "Colombian gold and red", Guajiran gold; regional red types (see punto-rojo); "Colombian Chiba"; "Manizales" (an HT 1978 lowland varietal name).311
    • Type as reported: sativa (narrow-leaf, tall, long season).312
    • Region: Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and La Guajira, Caribbean Colombia.12
    • Era: mid-1960s–early 1980s export trade; seed lines from the 1970s (Sacred Seeds' Skunk #1 components).18
    • Propagation: seed (landrace; export seeds in bulk "commercial"); no clone-only reference cut.

    3. Genetics & lineage claims

    3a. Origin of Sierra Nevada cannabis: Peace Corps volunteers introduced it

    Confidence: folklore (the "canonical theory" per Britto's reviewer; no primary source found). Competes with 3b.2

    3b. Origin: seed brought by guaqueros at Tayrona (after its mid-20th-century rediscovery) and by American hippies, plus contraband trade links at Riohacha/Santa Marta

    Confidence: reported (one academic historian, via two reviews; book text not opened). Competes with 3a. Britto also describes the creation of the Santa Marta Gold strain as a "mystery".21

    3c. Santa Marta Gold is the high-altitude (about 5,000 ft) top grade of the Sierra Nevada crop

    Confidence: reported (one 1978 reference work; consistent with HT price lists listing "Santa Marta golds, reds").311

    3d. Colombian Gold is a parent landrace of Skunk #1 (with Afghani and Acapulco Gold)

    Confidence: disputed (breeder-era statements disagree; see skunk-1). Sensi and Dutch Passion list Afghani/Acapulco Gold/Colombian Gold. McCormick (HT 2023) relays Skunkman Sam breeding Skunk #1 from Afghan, Colombian Gold and Acapulco Gold. HT May 1988 called it "a Thai/Mexican/Afghan".7813

    3e. 1990s Amsterdam "Colombian" export seed was Colombian Gold × old Northern Lights

    Confidence: reported (collector's inference in a USDA germplasm record).10

    4. Timeline

    • Mid-1960s–1970 — Ascendance: contraband traders around Riohacha/Santa Marta begin marijuana exports.1
    • 1972–1977/78 — Peak: Sierra Nevada valleys become an export sector.12
    • 1976–78 — HT price lists quote "Santa Marta gold, red" and "Punta Roja superb sweet smoke" in Bogotá; Santa Marta Gold tops cost out-of-town buyers $300–350/lb in Miami and retailed at $450–550/lb in their cities.3
    • 1978–1980 — Criminalization and militarization; eradication and interdiction campaign Nov 1978 – Mar 1980.1
    • Jan–Mar 1980 — HT news briefs: 23,020 lb and 56,000 lb Santa Marta gold seizures (Texas; Cape May, NJ).14
    • Apr 1980 — HT Connoisseur writes a premature "obituary for Colombian".4
    • Jul 1980 — HT: "primo Colombian gold" back in abundance at $550–600/lb after a "catastrophic 1979".11
    • Oct 1981 – Apr 1982 — HT: nothing like "the Santa Martas and Punta Rojas … of the mid '70s"; fake "Colombian golds"; cocaine and US homegrown cited for the fall of La Guajira and Santa Marta.56
    • Early 1980s — Skunk #1 (with Colombian Gold component, per later catalogs) in Bay Area lists by 1981.7
    • c.1990 — Colombian export seed bought in Amsterdam, later maintained as "Colombia 90" (USDA G 33956).10

    5. Seed-vendor lineage

    ProductVendorStated originConfidence
    Skunk #1 (component)Sacred Seeds → Seed Bank → SensiColombian Gold component (stated 1990s+)disputed78
    Colombian GoldWorld of Seeds (also sold via Zamnesia, ACE resellers)"crossbreeding pure land races from the Sierra de Santa Marta"reported9
    Colombia 90; Colombia 90 × Michoacan × Colombia GoldUSDA NPGS (donor A. Pretty, 2025)Amsterdam c.1990 export seed; Colombian Gold × NLreported10
    Coastal Seed Co. "… Colombian" crosses; "Nayarit × Colombian Red"Coastal Seed Co. (resellers)unnamed Colombian Red / Colombianreported7
    Mango Biche, Punto RojoColombian growers (Reddit)local Colombian landracesreported15

    No vendor I found documents a collection in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

    6. Historical descriptions by era

    • 1970s: light-blonde upland Colombian "breezy… energetic"; Colombian seen as more powerful but "often immobilizing" compared with 1960s Mexican (HT Encyclopedia essay).3
    • 1979–82: "big fat honey-colored Santa Marta gold buds"; vintage "sweet-and-spicy Colombian, champagne colored"; sinsemilla grown "from Gold Colombian seeds" kept the "spicy taste… brilliant, buoyant clarity" (HT Connoisseur).411
    • 1981–82: commercial Colombian moldy, gray, headache-inducing; quality collapse.56
    • Modern grows: tall (over 3 m in ground), long flowering; clear, uplifting, non-lethargic effect; "sweet, not skunky" smell (r/trees 2023 grower of a Colombian Gold × Oaxacan "1972" line).15

    7. Cannabinoid & terpene profile

    Caveat: names are not chemotype identifiers. US retail "Colombian Gold" is not verified Santa Marta seed.

    • Smith 2022: n=22 (labs 2, 5; CA/WA), THC mean 16.5%; terpenes n=5 only (limonene dominant in 4).16
    • WA I-502: n=48 (incl. a producer's "Colombian Gold 1972"), 4 labs, 6 producers; THC mean 19.8%.17
    • State records: "Colombian Gold" n=12 (MI, NV, WA, 2018–2020), THC mean 18.0%.18

    8. Community sentiment

    • Common: nostalgia; clear-headed, uplifting, energetic; "sweet and spicy" smell.415
    • Common (1980–82): disappointment with moldy, seedy commercial Colombian; fakes.56
    • Occasional (modern): long flowering and low yield for growers; doubts about labels.15
    • Score: not estimated.

    9. Open questions / could not verify

    • Britto's primary evidence on seed introduction (book not opened; two reviews read).
    • Any genetic study of Sierra Nevada landrace cannabis.
    • Whether any modern seed line descends from documented Santa Marta stock.
    • Paraquat spraying in Colombia (documented for Mexico; not checked for Colombia).

    10. Sources

    Note: footnotes 1–15 equal src-colombian-gold-001…015.

    Footnotes

    1. Jane M. Rausch, review of Lina Britto, Marijuana Boom: The Rise and Fall of Colombia's First Drug Paradise (UC Press 2020), Revista de Estudios Colombianos 57 (2021): 67–68. https://colombianistas.org/ojs/index.php/rec/article/download/153/166/806 — book (scholarly review). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

    2. Franklin Reynel Bonivento, review of Britto (2020), Maguaré 35(1) (2021): 241–245, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/8081542.pdf — book (scholarly review). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

    3. High Times Encyclopedia of Recreational Drugs (1978), OCR: Colombian altitude grades, Miami prices, world price lists. https://archive.org/details/high-times-encyclopedia — book. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

    4. High Times #56 (Apr 1980), Connoisseur column (OCR). https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/056%20High%20Times%20April%201980_djvu.txt — news. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

    5. High Times #74 (Oct 1981), Connoisseur column (OCR). https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/074%20High%20Times%20October%201981_djvu.txt — news. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

    6. High Times #79 (Mar 1982) Connoisseur and #80 (Apr 1982) Colombian feature (OCR). https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/080%20High%20Times%20April%201982_djvu.txt — news. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

    7. Breeder catalog entries via research/dataset/catalogs/ (sensi-seeds Skunk #1 White Label; dutch-passion Skunk #11; anonymous-bay-area-1981; coastal-seed-co / great-lakes resellers). https://sensiseeds.com/en/feminized-seeds/whitelabel/skunk-1-feminised — seed_catalog. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

    8. Todd McCormick, "The Primary Colors of Cannabis", High Times, 2023-06-06. https://hightimes.com/culture/the-primary-colors-of-cannabis/ — news. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

    9. Tangram/World of Seeds "Colombian Gold" product copy. https://site426.tangram-studio.com/product-colombian-gold-world-of-seeds — seed_catalog — unverified_url: true (search snippet). ↩ ↩2

    10. USDA ARS GRIN-Global G 33956 "Colombia 90" and G 33959 "Colombia 90 × Michoacan × Colombia Gold" (received 2025-03-25; donor narratives). https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=2190069 — lab_dataset (germplasm records). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

    11. High Times #57 (May 1980) Connoisseur and #59 (Jul 1980) Trans-High Market Quotations (OCR). https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/059%20High%20Times%20July%201980_djvu.txt — news. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

    12. McPartland JM, Small E (2020), PhytoKeys 144: 81–112 (South Asian domesticate dispersal to the Americas). https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.144.46700 — peer_reviewed. ↩

    13. Cultivator's Choice / HT May 1988 Skunk #1 description (via catalogs/cultivators-choice-historic.json). https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/153%20High%20Times%20May%201988_djvu.txt — seed_catalog. ↩

    14. High Times #54–55 (Feb–Mar 1980) bust briefs (OCR). https://archive.org/download/high-times-magazine-1980s_202401/055%20High%20Times%20March%201980_djvu.txt — news. ↩

    15. Reddit r/trees "Colombian Gold x Oaxacan Mexican - 1972 Landrace Strain" (12yiqj0, 2023-04-25), "Colombian Gold Landrace" (1dc6gsu, 2024-06-09); r/microgrowery Punto Rojo posts (wgh0bm 2022, hz4wi2 2020), via Arctic Shift. https://www.reddit.com/r/trees/comments/12yiqj0/ — forum_post. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

    16. Smith 2022 via _computed_landraces_lab_stats.json — lab_dataset (src-chem-smith2022-data). ↩

    17. WA I-502 via _computed_landraces_lab_stats.json — lab_dataset (src-chem-wa-i502-jikomes2018). ↩

    18. State lab records via _computed_current_lab_stats.json — lab_dataset (src-colombian-gold-018). ↩