Regulación y economía del cannabis en Argentina (2017-2024): avances, logros, insuficiencias e incertidumbres
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22409/antropolitica2026.v58.i1.a68229Keywords:
Cannabis regulation, Argentina, Medical cannabis, Regulatory framework, Public policy.Abstract
This article analyzes the regulatory and economic changes surrounding cannabis in Argentina between 2017 and 2024, assessing their impacts from a harm reduction and institutional analysis perspective. Following the enactment of Laws 27,350 and 27,669, the country enabled access to medicinal cannabis, promoted scientific research, and fostered production chains for cannabis and industrial hemp. However, implementation was fragmented: the Agencia Regulatoria de la Industria del Cáñamo y del Cannabis Medicinal failed to structure an effective operating system, and the Registro del Programa de Cannabis operated with severe operational and bureaucratic limitations. Furthermore, cannabis civil associations not foreseen by the original legal design emerged, creating regulatory gray areas. Based on a comparative approach, regulatory review, and interviews with key actors, this paper characterizes the outcome as a hybrid, predominantly non-profit medicinal cannabis legalization model with institutional barriers to the development of the formal market and the industry in Argentina. It is argued that clearer and more comprehensive regulations would allow for more orderly regulation of the system, improve access, strengthen the legal industry, reduce the margins of illegality and informality, and garantee better access to medicinal cannabis. The Argentine case provides insights into the challenges and tensions facing cannabis policies in transition in Latin America.
Downloads
References
BACA PAUNERO, María Victoria. Un camino sinuoso: la evolución histórica y la situación actual del marco regulatorio del Cannabis en Argentina. Eleusis, [s. l.], v. 1, n. 1, p. 161-194, 2023. Disponible en: http://revistaeleusis.web.unq.edu.ar/wp-content/uploads/sites/211/2023/07/baca.pdf. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
BARRY, Rachel; HILAMO, Heikki; GLANTZ, Stanton. Waiting for the opportune moment: the tobacco industry and marijuana legalization. The Milbank Quarterly, [s. l.], v. 92, n. 2, p. 207-242, 2014. Disponible en: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4089369/. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
CERDÁ, Magdalena; KILMER, Beau. Uruguay’s middle-ground approach to cannabis legalization. International Journal of Drug Policy, [s. l.], v. 42, p. 118-120, 2017. Disponible en: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5505872/. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
CORBELLE, Florencia. El activismo político de los usuarios de drogas: de la clandestinidad al Congreso Nacional. Buenos Aires: Teseo Press, 2018.
CORBELLE, Florencia. De usuarios/as responsables a cultivadores/as solidarios/as: problemas, sujetos y lenguajes políticos en los debates parlamentarios por la reforma a la ley de drogas en Argentina. Revista Perspectivas de Políticas Públicas, Buenos Aires, v. 13, n. 25, p. 130-162, 2023. Disponible en: https://revistas.unla.edu.ar/perspectivas/article/view/4722. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
CAULKINS, Jonathan; KILMER, Beau; KLEIMAN, Mark; MACCOUN Robert; MIDGETTE, Gregory; OGLESBY, Pat; PACULA, Rosalie Liccardo; REUTER, Peter. Considering marijuana legalization: insights for Vermont and other jurisdictions. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2015. Disponible en: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR864.html. Acceso en: 7 nov. 2025.
DÍAZ, María Cecilia. Impacientes: activistas por la regulación del uso terapeútico del cannabis. Avá, Posadas, n. 36, p. 137-164, 2020. Disponible en: https://revistas.unam.mx/index.php/ava/article/view/81306. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025
DÍAZ, María Cecilia; AGUILAR, Óscar; ROMERO, Lucía Ana. Coproducción de activismos, experticias y redes en la regulación del cannabis medicinal en Argentina. Ucronías, Argentina, n. 4, 2021. Disponible en: https://revistas.unpaz.edu.ar/ojs/index.php/ucronias/article/view/439. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
FLORES, Emiliano. Primera Encuesta Nacional de personas que usan Cannabis. Argentina: CECCA, 2022. Disponible en: https://cecca.org.ar/encuesta-nacional-de-personas-que-usan-cannabis/. Acceso en: 10 oct. 2025.
GEERTZ, Clifford. The interpretation of cultures: selected essays. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
GELBERG, Lillian; BECK, Dana; KOERBER, Julia; AKABIKE, Whitney; DARDICK, Lawrence; Lin, Clara, SHOPTAW, Steve; JAVANBAKHT, Marjan; Cannabis use reported by patients receiving primary care in a large health system. JAMA Network Open, [s. l.], v. 7, n. 6, 2024. Disponible en: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2819747. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
HALL, Wayne; LYNSKEY, Micheal. Evaluating the public health impacts of legalizing recreational cannabis use in the USA. Addiction, [s. l.], v. 111, n. 10, p. 1764-1773, 2016. Disponible en: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/add.13428. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
KILMER, Beau; PACULA, Rosalie Liccardo. Understanding and learning from the diversification of cannabis supply laws. Addiction, [s. l.], v. 112, n. 7, p. 1128–1135, 2017. Disponible en: https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13623. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
LABIANO, Virginia. Regulación del cannabis en Argentina: claves para el desarrollo de un marco normativo efectivo. Revista de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales, [s. l.], v. 15, n. 3, p. 25-40, 2019. Disponible en: https://revistas.unlp.edu.ar/dcsociales/article/view/12142. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025
LAVE, Jean; WENGER, Etienne. Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
LÓPEZ, Andrés. La cadena de valor del cannabis. Documentos de Trabajo del CCE, 1. Argentina: Consejo para el Cambio Estructural: Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo de la Nación, 2021. Disponible en: https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/files/cadena_de_valor_cannabis_cce.pdf. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
OKEY, Sarah; CASTRO, Saul; WADDELL, Jack; JONES, Connor; BLAKE, Austin; O’ROURKE, Holly; DAVIS, Mary; MEIER, Madeline. Are recreational cannabis laws associated with declining medical cannabis program enrollment in the United States? An analysis of cardholder enrollment and demographic characteristics from 2013 to 2020. International Journal of Drug Policy, [s. l.], v. 99, p. 103 451, 2022. Disponible en: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395921003983. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
PACULA, Rosalie; SMART, Rosanna. Medical marijuana and marijuana legalization. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, [s. l.], v. 13, p. 397-419, 2017. Disponible en: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045128. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
POLANYI, Micheal. The tacit dimension. Garden City: Doubleday, 1966.
QUEIROLO, Rosario. Uruguay’s cannabis regulation and its impact on public health. International Journal of Drug Policy, [s. l.], v. 77, p. 102634, 2020. Disponible en: http://revistaeleusis.web.unq.edu.ar/wp-content/uploads/sites/211/2023/07/baca.pdf. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
QUEIROLO, Rosario; PÉREZ, Andrea; BUCHELI, Mariano. Cannabis clubs in Uruguay: the challenges of regulation. International Journal of Drug Policy, [s. l.], v. 73, p. 161-167, 2016. Disponible en: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395920301662. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
ROOM, Robin. Legalizing a market for cannabis for pleasure: Colorado, Washington, Uruguay and beyond. Addiction, [s. l.], v. 109, n. 3, p. 345-351, 2014. Disponible en: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/add.12361. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
SECRETARÍA DE POLÍTICAS INTEGRALES SOBRE DROGAS DE LA NACIÓN ARGENTINA (SEDRONAR). Principales resultados en relación con el consumo de marihuana. Argentina: SEDRONAR: Observatorio Argentino de Drogas, 2023. Disponible en: https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/files/2023/08/oad_2023_principales_resultados_en_relacion_con_el_consumo_de_marihuana.pdf. Acceso en: 18 dec. 2025.
SOUTO ZABALETA, Mariana. El régimen internacional de control de drogas, las «interpretaciones flexibles» y las incómodas iniciativas de regulación del mercado de cannabis. Revista Pena y Estado, [s. l.], v. 1, n. 1, p. 26-56, 2019. Disponible en: https://revistapenaestado.org/index.php/rpe/article/view/6. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
SUBRITZKY, Todd; LENTON, Simon; PETTIGREW, Simone. Legal cannabis industry adopting strategies of the tobacco industry. Drug and Alcohol Review, [s. l.], v. 35, p. 511–513, 2016. Disponible en: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dar.12459. Acceso en: 7 jun. 2025.
TRANSFORM DRUG POLICY FOUNDATION. How to regulate cannabis: a practical guide. 2. ed. Bristol: Transform Drug Policy Foundation, 2017.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Rolando Garcia, Brenda Maier, Santiago Kozicki
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
O conteúdo da revista Antropolítica, em sua totalidade, está licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons de atribuição CC-BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.pt).
De acordo com a licença os seguintes direitos são concedidos:
- Compartilhar – copiar e redistribuir o material em qualquer suporte ou formato;
- Adaptar – remixar, transformar, e criar a partir do material para qualquer fim, mesmo que comercial;
- O licenciante não pode revogar estes direitos desde que você respeite os termos da licença.
De acordo com os termos seguintes:
- Atribuição – Você deve informar o crédito adequado, fornecer um link para a licença e indicar se alterações foram feitas. Você deve fazê-lo em qualquer maneira razoável, mas de modo algo que sugira que o licenciante o apoia ou aprova seu uso;
- Sem restrições adicionais — Você não pode aplicar termos jurídicos ou medidas de caráter tecnológico que restrinjam legalmente outros de fazerem algo que a licença permita.
