Chile countries/cl.yaml
Possession for 'exclusive personal use in the near term' in private is not punished under Law 20.000.[@tni,ley] The law sets no gram threshold, so police and prosecutors decide whether an amount looks like personal use or small-scale dealing.[@ley] Carrying it in public is a minor offence.[@tni] Non-punishable private use dates to a [1995 law](/history/chile-private-use-1995/).
Growing is an offence unless you can show it is for your own exclusive personal use — a de … rengthened for patients by a 2023 law that treats a medical prescription as justification.[@tni,dc] There is no plant number, and homes are still raided over a handful of plants.[@dc]
Private users are not punished, but the lack of thresholds means people are still arrested and charged with micro-trafficking, which carries prison of 541 days to five years.[@tni,ley] In May 2026 the Supreme Court replaced such a sentence, for 21 g, with a fine, holding that possession alone does not show an intention to deal.[@dcs26] Law 21.817, published on 23 May 2026, will punish small amounts as trafficking for substances that a regulation lists as capable of serious harm.[@ley21817,ep26] The ministry has until late November 2026 to write that list; whether cannabis will be on it had not been settled when this was written, and this score would fall if it is.[@bio26] The 2026 turn is traced in the [reform](/history/chile-drug-law-reform-2026/) and its [challenge](/history/chile-drug-law-reform-challenged-2026/).
Any transfer is treated as trafficking or small-scale dealing, and even consuming together in private can be a minor offence if the group gathered for that purpose.[@ley,tni]
Private solo use is not an offence. Using or carrying in public places is a minor offence punished with a fine, community service, mandatory treatment or licence suspension.[@tni,ley]
No legal adult-use source. Pharmacies can sell cannabis-based medicines on prescription.[@dc] A 2025 bill proposing home and collective cultivation of up to six plants has not passed.[@dc,tni]
Cultivation requires authorisation from the agriculture service, granted only for a few medical and research projects.[@tni,ley]
A few prescription cannabis medicines; otherwise only what a person grows for themselves.
tni
Cannabis medicines can be prescribed and sold in pharmacies since a 2015 decree, and patients with a prescription may grow their own — a few prescription products, otherwise only what a person grows.[@tni,dc] Products are few and expensive, so most patients self-supply.[@dc] The decree is traced in the [2015 decision](/history/chile-medical-decree-2015/).
Public-use offences can bring suspension of a driving licence and mandatory treatment programmes.[@tni,ley]
Law 20.000 punishes sowing, planting or growing cannabis without authorisation from the agriculture service, unless the grower shows the plants are for exclusive personal use or, since 2023, holds a medical prescription.[@ley] It mentions seeds only where an authorised grower diverts them to trafficking, and does not say where a personal grower may obtain seeds or plants.[@ley]
No law licenses clubs, but small medical ones have formed on the strength of a 2015 Supreme Court ruling that growing for private use, alone or in a group, is not a crime.[@td16,tni] The first reported, Botánica Orgánica Cannabis Internacional in the northern city of Arica … n who could not grow for themselves; no action by the authorities against it was reported.[@td16] The footing is narrow: under the drug law any transfer of cannabis can be treated as dealing.[@ley,tni] How many such clubs exist today was not found in the sources read.[@td16]
There is no legal recreational supply for anyone, so a visitor has no lawful way to buy cannabis.[@tni] Possession for exclusive personal use in private is not punished under Law 20.000, which sets no gram threshold, so police and prosecutors decide whether an amount looks like personal use or small-scale dealing.[@ley,tni]
The Traffic Law makes it a crime to drive under the influence of narcotic or psychotropic substances and, unlike for alcohol, sets no levels.[@dc25] In August 2025 the Santiago Court of Appeals held that the offence needs only the presence of the drug: visible effects do not have to be proved, and a positive roadside drug test confirmed by a blood test is enough.[@dc25] It overturned the acquittal of a bus driver on that ground and ordered a new trial.[@dc25]
Figures reported by the government to the UN drugs office record 31,132 kg of herbal cannabis seized in 2024, against 39,302 kg in 2023.[@unodc_szr] The UN publishes them as kilogram equivalents, and countries count seizures differently, so the figures are not comparable across borders.[@unodc_szr]
Figures the Supreme Court gave in early 2025 to the deputy Ana María Gazmuri, who published them, show 31,048 people charged with offences under the drug law, Ley 20.000, during 2024.[@uchile25] Of those, 12,328, about four in ten, were charged with small- scale dealing (microtráfico), and 759 specifically with growing cannabis.[@uchile25] The reply did not separate cannabis from other drugs beyond that.[@uchile25]
label Exclusive personal use in private · treatment tolerated · term Personal use · note Not punished; no gram threshold — police and prosecutors decide, label Public carrying as minor offence · treatment civil · term Personal use · note Fine, community service, mandatory treatment or licence suspension, label Amounts treated as small-scale dealing · treatment criminal · term Trafficking · prison min 541 days · prison 5 years · note Micro-trafficking band for amounts not accepted as personal
label Growing shown to be for exclusive personal use · treatment tolerated · term Personal use · note Defence accepted since 2015; raids still happen, label Growing with a medical prescription · treatment legal · term Medical growing · note Prescription as justification since 2023, label Growing without authorisation or accepted justification · treatment criminal · term Unlicensed cultivation · note Punished; small-scale dealing bands apply
Adult use is decriminalised, not legal: private personal use and growing for it go unpunished, public use is a minor offence, and there are no lawful sales.[@tni,ley] The line dates to a [1995 law](/history/chile-private-use-1995/) and is now under pressure from the 2026 reform and its court challenge.
tni, ley
none
No hemp exception operates: cultivation needs agriculture-service authorisation, granted only for a few medical and research projects, with no fibre or food regime.[@tni,ley]
tni, ley