The illegal drug market in Uruguay

Abstract

This paper analyses the behavior of the illegal drug market in Uruguay in the 21st century. It studies the evolution of the supply and demand of psychoactive substances considering two major events in the recent history of the country: the Frente Amplio’s winning of the elections in 2005 and the approval of the regulation law of marijuana in 2013. A quantitative exploratory design in time series was used. One of the key findings is that the illegal drug market in the country has steadily increased since the beginning of this century.