Colombia grabs vital foothold in marijuana

Cannabis companies are rushing to set up operations in Colombia, looking to gain a foothold in one of Latin America's drug capitals as governments across the world embrace the burgeoning legal marijuana industry.

Growers, many with financial backing of firms from Canada and the U.S., estimate as much as $500 million has been invested to buy farmland, build greenhouses and set up labs to produce oils, creams and other products that contain an extract used to treat everything from chronic pain to insomnia, Bloomberg reports.