With a new constitution being written, it’s quite possible that we’ll soon see legalized recreational cannabis in Chile. Right now cannabis is illegal for production and public use in Chile but is a widely consumed drug for both medical and recreational purposes. Chile has the highest per capita cannabis usage in all of South America according to 2019 statistics on Latin American cannabis consumption. Drug regulation in Chile is governed by Ley de Drogas from 2005. In 2008, the laws were made harsher because of illicit cannabis flowing into the country. Punishments for possession and use increased to that of drugs like cocaine and heroin. For a country that’s pretty cool with the plant, this caused a lot of tension, and this tension led to change starting around 2014. That year, the government loosened its grip and began allowing the cultivation of cannabis for medical research purposes. It took until the end of 2015 for president Michelle Bachelet to officially sign into law a medical cannabis policy, which allows prescribed use.
Sean Hocking, Cannabis Law Report, 09/16/2021 07:26:00