Until recently, it was illegal in Ecuador to consume or possess even small amounts of cannabis. The country has been widely condemned for its harsh drug laws (which are among the strictest in South America) that imprisoned people caught with limited amounts of cannabis for their personal use. Analia Silva`s recorded testimony is part of a series of videos produced by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) on the human toll of misguided drug laws. Across the region, existing laws have resulted in overburdened criminal justice systems, long prison sentences disproportionate to the crimes committed, and serious collateral damage to the most vulnerable segments of society. However, Judge Diego Garcia clarified that «the law allows the use and does not consider it criminal, but the cultivation, trafficking and sale of small or large quantities of drugs continue to be prohibited.» With strict laws, Ecuador legalizes medical cannabis. Law 108 (introduced in 1991) provided for at least 10 years in prison for drug traffickers and traffickers. However, it also allowed the court to convict the perpetrator of several crimes at the same time, meaning that the prison sentence could be significantly increased. For example, a person could be charged with transporting and trafficking cannabis, which could result in a prison sentence of up to 25 years. For comparison: the maximum sentence for murder is only 16 years! «The simplest solution for politicians is to give in to populism and put more people in jail,» lawyer Daniel Kuri, a professor of criminology in Guayaquil, Ecuador, told Filter. «Building a school gets more votes than building a drug treatment center.» In 2017, Lenin Moreno, a former vice president under Correa, became head of state. Little has changed in drug policy since he took office.

Ecuador carried out drug policy reforms three years later, but Chalen said nothing had changed for people like him. Let`s take a look at how other countries in the region are behaving in terms of cannabis legalization and drug decriminalization. In his video statement, Silva explains the collateral damage caused by current anti-drug policies: «President Correa masks this under the pretext of protecting young people from drugs, when in reality it will only fill Ecuadorian prisons with people – mainly women – who are often forced into drug trafficking, either by violence or by economic necessity,» she said. According to article 364 of the 2008 Ecuadorian Constitution, the Ecuadorian State does not consider drug use to be a crime, but only a health problem. [1] Since June 2013, the state`s drug regulatory body CONSEP has published a table setting out the maximum levels practiced by persons considered to be legal possessions and non-sellers of drugs. [1] [2] [3] The amount of cannabis allowed for personal use is 10 grams of marijuana or hashish. [4] «The police are indoctrinated to crack down on crimes and rewarded for the number of people they arrest,» Velez said. «The more traffickers they catch, the more resources their ministries can ask for.» He argues that police advocates need to help see the benefits of drug policy reform for their work. For example, placing less emphasis on drugs allows law enforcement agencies to focus on violent crime. Recently, the Ecuadorian government has taken important steps to create more progressive cannabis laws. The previous system, widely ridiculed by human rights groups around the world, has been overhauled, and the decriminalization of cannabis use will hopefully reduce prison overcrowding.

Lasso said the drug trade has led to an increase in homicides, home burglaries, thefts of vehicles and property, and theft of people. First and foremost, it meets the needs of current and future cannabis users, helping them overcome pain, illness and more. Second, the liberalization of drug laws can help develop new industries in the country, which means more jobs for people and reduces unemployment, underemployment and poverty. Cannabis legalization can help people in countless ways, so what are politicians waiting for? Excited about their success, the team embarked on the next task. They merged criminal codes relating to drug use, made criminal laws more proportionate to crime (previously, a person caught with 3 grams of marijuana risked 15 years in prison, a higher sentence than for rape), and generally reduced the role of the criminal justice system in drug policy. At the end of the month, two Latin American NGOs will hold a conference on drug law reform in Rio de Janeiro. The two-day summit will bring together more than 30 drug policy experts from 13 different countries to discuss geopolitics, trade, decriminalization and alternative treatments. The organizers, Intercambios in Argentina and Psicotrópicus in Brazil, hope that the August 26-27 conference will pave the way for these reforms. Ecuador has recently prioritized the fight against small-scale drug trafficking: President Rafael Correa recently said that 85 percent of the country`s drug enforcement officers are now focusing on this issue. As a courtesy, he agreed to attend a meeting.

Government officials came up with a shocking proposal. The new president Rafael Correa of the PAIS Alliance, a center-left party, wanted to decriminalize drug use. Would Velez lead national reform efforts? For people who use drugs in a habitual and problematic way, «under no circumstances should their criminalization or violation of their rights be allowed.» Ecuador`s drug laws have undergone many changes over the years. In 1970, the «Narcotics Control and Intervention Act» was introduced, which emphasized that drug use was a public health problem and not a crime. The focus on punishing sellers – which in practice almost always applies to low-level sellers, as high-ranking dealers are harder to find – is a ruse to revive the war on drugs. The tactic works. Many U.S. states accuse drug dealers of murder when a customer takes an overdose.

In Ecuador, the narrative of «micro-traders» has shifted public discourse towards punishment. Correa`s government previously had a more progressive stance on drug policies, which included the release of drug mules from prison. This policy change follows a series of statements by President Correa in which he said Ecuador must combat drug use among young people, with a particular focus on heroin. «We need to put micro-traffickers in jail,» he said, later adding that the country must use «zero tolerance» for heroin use. In another speech, he rebelled against the «impunity» enjoyed by micro-traders in the judicial system. «We need to stop thinking about drugs when reforming drug policy. [It`s] really about social transformation and learning to live with diversity. Ecuador`s Congress has approved tougher penalties for petty drug traffickers, a reversal of a more liberal policy that may have been triggered by the president`s stated «zero tolerance» approach to heroin use. This process can be historic if it goes in the right direction and if there is the political will to face resistance from conservative groups. Together, it is possible to make a change. As José «Pepe» Mujica (former Uruguayan president) once said, «the problem is drug trafficking, not marijuana»; We need to go further – this is a punitive drug policy.

No one should be in jail for drug use or possession. No one should be in prison. In addition, according to the Ecuadorian Constitution of 2008, article 364 stipulates that drug use is not a crime, but a health problem. In addition, medical cannabis was legalized here in September 2019 by the National Assembly of Ecuador. In fact, government-regulated medical cannabis production only began in March of this year. «Not all drug use is an addiction,» he said (in fact, most are not). «People should have the freedom to decide what they consume.» «Our biggest mistake was not educating people,» said Max Paredes, a researcher at Parametria, an organization dedicated to creating data on drug trends in Ecuador. «People have the same stigma against drugs as they did 20 or 30 years ago. Politicians depend on citizens.

If the public says life imprisonment for anyone who commits a crime, politicians will start talking about it. Analia Silva, a 40-year-old Afro-Ecuadorian woman, says it was very difficult for her to find a job in Ecuador because she could not read or write and was constantly subjected to racial and age discrimination. Unemployed, desperate and the sole provider of her two children, she began selling small amounts of drugs to make ends meet.