Argentina
South America
#21 of 196 worldwide
#3 of 12 in South America
The Supreme Court's Arriola ruling (2009) protects private personal use. The REPROCANN registry lets patients grow their own or use a designated grower.
Score breakdown ▏world average
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Possession · 25%3/10adds 7.5 of 25 points
Possession is still a crime in the drug law, but the Supreme Court's 2009 Arriola ruling made it unconstitutional to punish an adult for a small amount for personal use in private. No gram threshold was ever set, so judges decide case by case. People registered in the medical registry REPROCANN may carry up to 40 g of flower.
Personal cultivation · 25%3/10adds 7.5 of 25 points
Legal only through REPROCANN: with a doctor's indication, a registered person may grow up to nine flowering plants, or have a designated grower or association do it. 2025 rules tightened registration and oversight. Unregistered growing is a crime, though courts sometimes apply Arriola to a few plants.
Punishment & enforcement · 20%3/10adds 6.0 of 20 points
Small private possession is usually dismissed, but arrests still occur and outcomes depend on the judge. Trafficking and unregistered cultivation carry four to fifteen years on paper.
Sharing & gifting · 10%1/10adds 1.0 of 10 points
No protection. Supplying cannabis free of charge is a specific offence under the drug law, with a lighter sentence when occasional and clearly for personal use.
Consumption · 10%3/10adds 3.0 of 10 points
Private use by adults is constitutionally protected. Use in public is not, and can lead to arrest and a court-ordered treatment or education measure.
Legal access · 10%1/10adds 1.0 of 10 points
No legal adult-use sales. Registered patients can obtain cannabis from authorised associations or growers; pharmacies sell a small number of approved products.
More context not part of the score
A 2022 law created a framework and agency for medical cannabis and industrial hemp production, with licences issued slowly. No adult-use production.
Home-grown flower and oils for registered patients; a few pharmacy products. Nothing for general sale.
The medical route is the main legal path: any doctor can issue the indication needed for REPROCANN, with no closed list of conditions, though the 2025 rules added requirements for prescribers and periodic renewal.
Cases dismissed under Arriola leave no conviction. Registration in REPROCANN places patients in a government database.
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