Ecuador
“The battle against drug smuggling has been an excuse that imperialists have used for several years to penetrate our country, trample our people and justify a military presence in Latin America,” Mr. Chávez told reporters at Caracas’s airport during a visit by the Ecuadorean president-elect Rafael Correa. The big cause is over there, the consumption, the drug money, the banks that launder billions of dollars each year, but no one does anything about it.”
The history of the War on Drugs in Ecuador is possibly one of the most interesting in all of Central America. A recent history following a roller coaster track of policy changes in a matter of just of a few decades. Since the inception of the War on Drugs, Ecuador has faced an enormous increase in oppressions imposed upon its citizens. Ecuador, which was once considered Central America’s most lenient state on criminalizing drugs, took on a massive shift following the creation of the War on Drugs. Mainly for reasons based on minimal drug crime in the region, Ecuador never placed a major priority on halting crime connected in the drug market up until these developments. Instead, Ecuadorian policies pre-War on Drugs had a primary focus around health issues associated with drugs, rather than criminality. For instance, if someone was caught using drugs, they were immediately checked into a hospital where a medical professional assessed whether said user was dependent upon drugs or not. After assessing the user’s drug dependency, a patient would either be released or set to receive rehabilitation treatments. The most important message that early Ecuadorian Drug Policy wished to achieve was that to actually criminalize someone for drug usage was actually a detriment to their health altogether.
Although Ecuadorian policy was once noted as one coming from a much more forgiving approach when regarding to drug crimes, the War on Drugs took this outlook to an entirely polar opposite almost immediately. In 1987, Ecuador established the Law of Control and Intervention in the Trafficking of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances as a response to UN and intercontinental demands for stricter policies across the globe.
Following the US Andean Initiative; a program created to stimulate economic growth through trade and increase military aid to the region in 1989, the country was forced to confront a lucrative opportunity, but there was a catch. A state’s incorporation into the Andean Initiative was contingent upon even stricter involvement and formulation of regulations in favor of the War on Drugs. Not only was this opportunity cost dismissed if these contingencies were not met, but threats of dissolving trade agreements were also made. Bound by these negative implications Ecuador enacted the Law on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances’ in 1991. An incredibly disproportionate law enforced with no attention to context of crime, but rather if or if not a crime involving drugs occurred. Low level crimes and much more severe drug crimes were all judged on the same platform with a minimum jailing sentence of twelve years.
Ecuador is the exact opposite of a state that should be enforcing a law like this when the facts are considered. Ecuador is not a state that has historically cultivated drugs, but is a state that happens to be located between some of the World’s most predominant cultivators of Cocaine, making it a place Cocaine must go through in order to get to it’s most popular destination… the US. Most prisoners in Ecuador jailed for drug offences are on the lower misdemeanor side of the criminal activity, as these types of offenses are much easier to catch, than those more serious acts of drug trafficking. These small time crimes are often exemplified to even larger numbers of prisoners with a lack of fair trial system. Prisoners can wait extended periods to even be seen.
Fortunately there is still hope for these people as the public's perception towards the US has changed dramatically and many contracts between the US and Ecuador have not been renewed as of recently.
The history of the War on Drugs in Ecuador is possibly one of the most interesting in all of Central America. A recent history following a roller coaster track of policy changes in a matter of just of a few decades. Since the inception of the War on Drugs, Ecuador has faced an enormous increase in oppressions imposed upon its citizens. Ecuador, which was once considered Central America’s most lenient state on criminalizing drugs, took on a massive shift following the creation of the War on Drugs. Mainly for reasons based on minimal drug crime in the region, Ecuador never placed a major priority on halting crime connected in the drug market up until these developments. Instead, Ecuadorian policies pre-War on Drugs had a primary focus around health issues associated with drugs, rather than criminality. For instance, if someone was caught using drugs, they were immediately checked into a hospital where a medical professional assessed whether said user was dependent upon drugs or not. After assessing the user’s drug dependency, a patient would either be released or set to receive rehabilitation treatments. The most important message that early Ecuadorian Drug Policy wished to achieve was that to actually criminalize someone for drug usage was actually a detriment to their health altogether.
Although Ecuadorian policy was once noted as one coming from a much more forgiving approach when regarding to drug crimes, the War on Drugs took this outlook to an entirely polar opposite almost immediately. In 1987, Ecuador established the Law of Control and Intervention in the Trafficking of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances as a response to UN and intercontinental demands for stricter policies across the globe.
Following the US Andean Initiative; a program created to stimulate economic growth through trade and increase military aid to the region in 1989, the country was forced to confront a lucrative opportunity, but there was a catch. A state’s incorporation into the Andean Initiative was contingent upon even stricter involvement and formulation of regulations in favor of the War on Drugs. Not only was this opportunity cost dismissed if these contingencies were not met, but threats of dissolving trade agreements were also made. Bound by these negative implications Ecuador enacted the Law on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances’ in 1991. An incredibly disproportionate law enforced with no attention to context of crime, but rather if or if not a crime involving drugs occurred. Low level crimes and much more severe drug crimes were all judged on the same platform with a minimum jailing sentence of twelve years.
Ecuador is the exact opposite of a state that should be enforcing a law like this when the facts are considered. Ecuador is not a state that has historically cultivated drugs, but is a state that happens to be located between some of the World’s most predominant cultivators of Cocaine, making it a place Cocaine must go through in order to get to it’s most popular destination… the US. Most prisoners in Ecuador jailed for drug offences are on the lower misdemeanor side of the criminal activity, as these types of offenses are much easier to catch, than those more serious acts of drug trafficking. These small time crimes are often exemplified to even larger numbers of prisoners with a lack of fair trial system. Prisoners can wait extended periods to even be seen.
Fortunately there is still hope for these people as the public's perception towards the US has changed dramatically and many contracts between the US and Ecuador have not been renewed as of recently.