Regulation of cannabis: a security issue? Entry and maintenance on the agenda of a public policy problem

Abstract

How a bill on regulation of cannabis was included in the Uruguayan government’s agenda in 2012 and, even more, how can we explain its permanence in the agenda? This paper argues that the security-insecurity debate set in the first half of 2012 and the government initiative with its "Estrategia para la vida y la convivencia" were the factors that drived this process. It argues that both the labeling of cannabis problem as a security issue (Nelson 1993) and the confluence of three streams (problems, policies and politics; Kingdon 2003) explains that the project on cannabis regulation was included and maintained in the government’s agenda until December 2013, when the Congress finally passed the bill.