On Course for Regulated Personal Cultivation in Ecuador

In 1998 the country revised its “Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act” (Act 108), under which consumption was decriminalised. However, there existed legal contradictions and flaws that ended up penalising users and consumers for holding, possession and transport, without any criterion of proportionality, all entailing sentences of 12-16 years.

In 2008 a new milestone was reached with regards to the discussion of the drug phenomenon as Ecuador initiated a constitutional process, including the publication of Article 364 which, among other things, shifted the government´s approach to drugs from repression/policing to public health, distinguished between occasional, regular and problematic consumers; and recognised that in no case would they be criminalised, nor would their constitutional rights be violated.

This constitutional framework compels Ecuador's government and institutions to seek codes, laws, regulations and resolutions that abandon the failed "war against drugs" approach, protect users and consumers, offer adequate health and rehabilitation systems, and determine ways to guarantee quality, origin and accessibility with regards to psychoactive substances.

The CONSEP (National Council on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances) has until now been charged with researching and determining the coordinated actions of the country's institutions regarding the drug phenomenon. In addition, it is this Council which, on 20 July 2013 published, by means of Official Registry No. 19, the “Maximum Consumption Doses Table," which sets down the permissible amounts for the possession of Marijuana, Cocaine, Cocaine Paste, Heroin, MDA, MDMA and Amphetamines. On 14 July 2014 the same institution, by means of Official Registry No. 288, issued the “Tables Indicating Amounts of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances for the Sanctioning of Illicit Small-, Intermediate- and Large-scale Trafficking.”

Simultaneously, the National Assembly, in February of the same year, sanctioned the new “Comprehensive Criminal Code,” which took effect in August of that year. This new legal instrument contains two articles that are totally compatible with the constitution and represent significant advances. Article 220 stipulates the scales and the sentences, in addition to stating that “The holding or possession of narcotics or psychotropic substances for personal use or consumption, in the amounts established by the corresponding legislation, will not be punishable." Article 222, meanwhile, may feature the world's most advanced legal logic, stating that only growing "for commercial purposes" will be sanctioned “with incarceration, from one to three years.”

Debate in the country has never been more intense; currently being discussed is the “Organic Law for the Comprehensive Prevention of Drugs and the Use of Catalogued Substances Subject to Regulation." The proposal was developed by the National Assembly's Health Commission, presided over by Dr. Carlos Velasco, who harbours a progressive vision of legalisation. The report has passed the first debate, having sparked criticisms and observations, and is now being prepared for a second round of debate.

Among the most noteworthy points are the inclusion of the right to non-criminalisation, and the creation of two new institutions: the Technical Secretariat and Inter-institutional Committee; the inclusion of alcohol, tobacco, synthesised and industrial use substances; a prevention component; priority assigned to Popular and Solidarity-based Economics (over private commerce); and, above all, the Technical Secretariat's authority to issue the “REGULATION ON THE PLANTING, CULTIVATION AND HARVEST OF PLANTS FOR PERSONAL CONSUMPTION.”

The public policy remains a work in progress. Civil society has played a decisive role in this process, with both cannabis communities and organisations for the defence of the rights of users and consumers having studied alternatives, produced proposals, and impacted each one of the steps. In response to the bill they stood firm and refused to give up their rights, above all that to personal cultivation for personal use.

The Quito-Ecuador Global Marijuana March #MMMUIO2015 drew more than 2,500 people, and there were also demonstrations in the cities of Cuenca and Guayaquil. This year it was organised by Ecuador's Federation of Cannabis Communities, including movement founders like Ecuador Cannábico and Defensores ProCáñamo. This year's information, announcement, proposal and manifesto are available on Web platforms like Legalizatecuador.com and EcuadorCannabico.blogspot.com.

Gabriel Buitrón, a member of the group Ecuador Cannábico, informed the online newspaper Ecuador Inmediato that his group is not seeking to legalise the consumption of marijuana, but rather to decriminalise cannabis consumption. "We do not believe that, at any level, the solution is to incarcerate consumers," he indicated, stressing that it has been "widely" demonstrated that prohibition and the war on drugs have failed for 30 years.