Cannabis in Argentina has a long history going deep into its past. As author Alejandro Corda wrote, “the use of cannabis in Argentina didn’t begin with the boom of self-cultivation… but with ancestral practices that have been erased from official history”.
From its medical and ritualistic use by Afro-descendant communities, to the rise of an organised cannabis movement, this plant has been at the center of struggles over health, human rights, criminalisation, and social justice.
From expansion to uncertainty
Since 2009, Argentina has moved towards a more open and rights-based cannabis policy. The passing of Law 27.350 in 2017 (updated in 2020), which regulated the medical use of the cannabis plant and its derivatives, along with Law 27.669 of 2022, which established a regulatory framework for the development of the medical cannabis and industrial hemp industries, were significant milestones. Additionally, the launch of the National Cannabis Registry (REPROCANN) in 2021 and the legalisation of home cultivation for medical use in 2020 paved the way for cannabis access with a health-based, social, and community-driven perspective.
While Argentina seemed to be becoming a regional leader in medical cannabis access, these progressive policies were not driven by the state – they came about thanks to decades of organising and advocacy by the cannabis movement.
However, recent policy decisions risk undermining these successes. In principle, any Argentinian citizen with a medical cannabis prescription can register to legally grow up to nine flowering plants, possess up to 40 grams of dried cannabis when transporting, or join a registered grow club. However, in practice, bureaucratic obstacles, slow approval processes and a lack of political will have made it increasingly difficult for patients to access cannabis safely and legally. Authorisations are often not being renewed, and a promised pharmacy supply chain is non-existent.
It’s important to note that drug possession has been criminalised since 1989. So, despite laws enabling medical use and self-cultivation, prohibition continues to be the dominant approach towards cannabis.
Speaking to Nermi Zappia, an activist and pioneer of Argentinian home cannabis cultivation who founded Argentina’s first cannabis cultivation club alongside her partner in 2012, the dominance of cannabis prohibition is still clear.
“Although cannabis medical laws are generally seen as progress, for some of us, it’s clear that real change would mean a new drug law,” Zappia said. “Being forced to pose as a medical user just to avoid persecution and punishment hides the reality that most people are simply cannabis users.”
Recent changes to cannabis regulation have limited access: in an effort to allegedly prevent cannabis “misuse”, Resolution 1780/2025 reorganised the medical cannabis system by establishing clearer registration categories, formalising patients’ rights to cultivate, and introducing stronger quality control and traceability measures.
This encroachment on a progressive model is a reminder that cannabis use remains vulnerable to the state’s political desires. There is a persistent tension between fighting for progress in cannabis rights while operating within a prohibitionist system of control and criminalization— placing hard-won social gains at risk.
What is REPROCANN and why was it a key breakthrough for cannabis in Argentina?
REPROCANN was a good example of a legal model that properly regulated medical cannabis while recognising people’s rights to cultivate the plant for easier and personalised access. When it was announced in March 2021 by the then-Health Minister, it was framed as a health-based approach to cannabis access that protected cannabis cultivators and patients from criminalisation.
Through this registry, consumers, designated growers, and organisations were able to legally access the cultivation, possession, and use of medical cannabis with a medical prescription. As of October 2023, over 300,000 people were registered on it, a successful example of people’s willingness to transition to a legal and properly regulated access to this now-legal medicine.
Javier Milei’s crackdown
The election of Javier Milei in December 2023, with Patricia Bullrich heading the Ministry of Security, was a radical turning point: publicly, they revived tired narratives linking medical cannabis use with drug trafficking, while Bullrich threatened to dismantle REPROCANN. After months of administrative paralysis, in 2024 the national government limited new registrations on REPROCANN, added a clause that prescribing doctors needed to have at least a Masters in medical cannabis, and restricted access only to cannabis seeds in the National Seed Registry (INASE). These measures put at risk a public policy born from the collective work of activists and civil society, raising access barriers for a key tool of healthcare and harm reduction.
As Emilio Ruchansky, a member of the Center for the Study of Cannabis Culture (CECCA) put it:
“Cannabis policies are paralysed. All processes related to seed registration have been halted… The national government has used all its administrative powers to freeze the process. The only way forward today is through judicial protection.”
The economic and social context in Argentina
Since taking office, Milei’s administration has implemented austerity-based reforms, including drastic social spending cuts and broad economic deregulation. While this has achieved a fiscal surplus, the social and economic consequences have been severe: Argentina has become the most expensive country in Latin America; inflation — having peaked at 249% in April 2024 — continues to erode people’s purchasing power in key areas such as food, housing, and basic services.
The country now has one of the lowest minimum wages in the world. This has led to a tragic increase in poverty and social exclusion, felt particularly harshly by retirees, informal workers, and other vulnerable groups. Within public health, budget cuts have slashed essential programmes and caused critical shortages of medical supplies. Popular protests were quelled by harsh criminalisation, alongside a rise in state repression and arbitrary detentions.
Is “freedom” advancing?
The REPROCANN programme prior to Milei’s interference was an accessible and restorative model that worked. Crucially, REPROCANN protected the existence of solidarity growers – people growing cannabis on behalf of family members or close contacts. This was a pioneering legal recognition for Latin America, a progressive inclusion that enabled access to medical cannabis for those without the means to grow.
However, the new regulations replaced solidarity growers with so-called “third-party growers”, significantly restricting its scope and reintroducing the fear of criminalisation. This is not merely a matter of technical adjustments, but rather the imposition of a new narrative that erases any framework based on mutual aid and solidarity.
The dismantling of a tool like REPROCANN endangers the rights and recognition of cannabis cultivators and the support they provide to their wider community, critical at a time of financial hardship. Far from improving public health, this change risks reducing the number of people accessing medical cannabis through legal means, while encouraging the growth of the illegal market.
Current landscape and upcoming challenges
In this context, the hard-won gains made on cannabis are under threat. Rolling back the REPROCANN system, refusing to reform drug laws and continuing to link medical cannabis to organised crime delegitimises the plant as medicine and undermines people’s right to care, autonomy, and health.
Argentina and its community of cannabis consumers and growers are stuck. To deal with REPROCANN’s current issues, certain Argentinian provinces have created regional cannabis registries to deal with REPROCANN’s jammed cultivator and patient approval process.
However, there are limits to what change can happen within a system of drug prohibition. With an increasingly authoritarian state prioritising order and market efficiency, it is very likely to see progressive drug policies become incrementally dismantled, eroding the protection of vulnerable patients and other communities who are instead framed as criminals.
Hard-fought wins in cannabis need to be protected by new legislation.
“The big challenge for activists today is to build a comprehensive cannabis bill—one that regulates all aspects, including the decriminalisation of possession for personal use of all substances,” Ruchansky told TalkingDrugs. “International experiences—from Canada, Uruguay, Germany—are key to avoid mistakes and develop an updated, relevant proposal.”
“But it’s just as important to learn from other movements, like feminism or the LGBT+ struggle, which gained rights by mobilizing society. That’s the great lesson: in the fight for rights, it’s up to us now. Our time has come.”
In this politically hostile landscape, activism becomes incredibly crucial—not only to resist criminalisation, but to keep building, collectively, a new way forward: one that is fairer, more inclusive, and truly accessible.
As Nermi put it: “We need to bring back the conversation about the rights of people who use criminalised substances if we really want change. No more people imprisoned for possessing, growing, or selling marijuana!”
