Chile
South America
#22 of 196 worldwide
#4 of 12 in South America
Private personal use is not punishable and courts accept personal cultivation as a defence. Public use is a minor offence.
Score breakdown ▏world average
Select a segment to show or hide the exact rules and sources.
Possession · 25%3/10adds 7.5 of 25 points
Possession for 'exclusive personal use in the near term' in private is not punished under Law 20.000. The law sets no gram threshold, so police and prosecutors decide whether an amount looks like personal use or small-scale dealing. Carrying it in public is a minor offence.
Personal cultivation · 25%2/10adds 5.0 of 25 points
Growing is an offence unless you can show it is for your own exclusive personal use — a defence accepted by the Supreme Court since 2015, and strengthened for patients by a 2023 law that treats a medical prescription as justification. There is no plant number, and homes are still raided over a handful of plants.
Punishment & enforcement · 20%4/10adds 8.0 of 20 points
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.
Sharing & gifting · 10%1/10adds 1.0 of 10 points
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.
Consumption · 10%3/10adds 3.0 of 10 points
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.
Legal access · 10%1/10adds 1.0 of 10 points
No legal adult-use source. Pharmacies can sell cannabis-based medicines on prescription. A 2025 bill proposing home and collective cultivation of up to six plants has not passed.
More context not part of the score
Cultivation requires authorisation from the agriculture service, granted only for a few medical and research projects.
A few prescription cannabis medicines; otherwise only what a person grows for themselves.
Cannabis medicines can be prescribed and sold in pharmacies since 2015, and patients with a prescription may grow their own. Products are few and expensive, so most patients self-supply.
Public-use offences can bring suspension of a driving licence and mandatory treatment programmes.
All sources
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