Presidential support for drug policy reform: a comparison of cannabis policies in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay (1973–2015)

The article aims to explain the differing cannabis policies in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, despite these countries sharing similar challenges regarding the drug problem. The central argument is that in Latin America, the president often exerts a monopoly on drug policy, defining and prioritizing the issue on the public agenda. Since presidential ideas about drug use are rarely made public, examining the ideas of legislators allows us to trace the ideational milieu in which presidential stances are articulated. Given the strong fusion of executive and legislative agendas characteristic of Latin American presidentialism, the cognitive-normative frameworks articulated in congressional debates both reflect and delineate the context within which presidents define their positions. Specifically, we contend that a cognitive-normative framework emerged among legislators in the 1970s, coinciding with the drug problem’s entrance onto the legislative agendas of the three countries. This framework fostered an ideational path dependency that acted as a cognitive block, sustaining a single description of the drug problem that conditioned the events of the 2012–2015 period. Drawing on a variety of sources, the article illustrates how congressional ideas have endured and how presidential support functions as a critical enabling condition for policy change.