Background: Policy language in National Drug Strategy documents constructs policy problems over time. Critically examining these discursive constructions is crucial, as they shape how policy responses are conceptualised and justified. Research from the Global North highlights tensions in drug policy responses, often oscillating between a public health or ‘harm reduction’ focus and a security-driven approach. Although ‘Northern’ drug policies significantly influence the Global South, drug policy development in the latter has shown important variation over the past three decades. Notably, many Latin American countries have introduced substantial drug policy reforms. Yet, it remains unclear how the tensions between health and security approaches to drugs manifest in countries like Chile, where, as in other nations in the region, the recent dictatorship (1973–1989) continues to impact the transition to democratic values.

Methods: We use critical discourse analysis and Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be’ framework to examine how Chile’s National Drug Strategies documents evolved and represent the drug policy problem and responses during the neoliberal democratic period (1990-present).

Results: Preliminary analysis shows that ‘harm reduction’ is absent in the analysed documents; instead, terms like ‘risk management’ and ‘human rights’ suggest a health-oriented approach. However, this is an ongoing project, and further analysis will enrich our results.

Implications: This paper contributes to the international drug policy debate by analysing Chilean drug policy language, its evolving responses to the drug 'problem,' and its parallels and nuances with those of the Global North.