A new study published today in the Journal of Cannabis Research identified 294 registered cannabis social clubs in Chile, finding that the organizations have expanded substantially over the past decade and have reached a record pace of new registrations.
Researchers examined the development and geographic distribution of cannabis social clubs from 2015 through 2024 using Chile’s National Registry of Non-Profit Legal Entities, census data, online searches and other records. Cannabis social clubs are nonprofit organizations in which adults collectively cultivate and access marijuana in private settings, generally under systems of internal self-regulation.
The study found just one newly registered club in 2015, followed by eight in 2016, 32 in 2017 and 36 in 2018. Registrations remained between 23 and 35 annually from 2019 through 2023 before surging to 71 in 2024, the highest total of the 10-year period and more than double the 29 recorded in 2023.
Overall, 61.9% of the clubs identified by researchers were registered between 2020 and 2024, compared with 38.1% between 2015 and 2019.
The expansion was highly concentrated geographically. Of the 294 clubs, 198, or 67.3%, were located in Chile’s Metropolitan Region, which includes Santiago. Researchers identified clubs in all 16 administrative regions, but they were present in only 71 of the country’s 345 municipalities, representing 20.6% of municipalities nationwide.
Santiago had 74 registered clubs, the most of any municipality, followed by Las Condes with 61 and Valdivia with eight. Maipú, Peñalolén, Providencia, Puerto Varas, San Miguel and Temuco each had six.
When researchers adjusted the figures for population, Chile had an average of 1.9 cannabis social clubs per 100,000 residents age 15 and older. Aysén had the highest regional rate at 6.1 clubs per 100,000 residents, followed by the Metropolitan Region at 3.2, Magallanes at 2.9 and Los Ríos at 2.7.
Researchers said the geographic pattern shows that the growth of cannabis social clubs has largely favored urban and higher-income areas, while rural and peripheral communities have considerably less access. Nearly half of the clubs outside the Metropolitan Region were concentrated in their respective regional capitals.
Cannabis social clubs operate within what researchers describe as a legally ambiguous framework in Chile. A 2015 Supreme Court ruling found that collective cultivation for personal consumption does not constitute a criminal offense under the circumstances considered in the case, while Chilean clubs generally organize as nonprofit entities.
The researchers said the findings support creating clearer regulations and a national registry for cannabis social clubs, as well as policies designed to improve access in rural and underserved areas.
They concluded that while the clubs have grown substantially, their formalization has tended to reproduce existing geographic and socioeconomic inequalities, potentially limiting access to medical marijuana for people living outside Chile’s largest urban centers.
