Ecuador

Overview of drug laws and legislative trends in Ecuador.

Trend

In 2008, Ecuador’s Special Assembly (Asamblea Constituyente) approved an amnesty for drug couriers imprisoned for carrying less than 2 kilos and who had spent more than a year in prison.

A new Constitution approved by referendum in September 2008 states about drug users the following: “Under no circumstance shall they be criminalized nor their constitutional rights violated.” This opens the door for drug law reform, expected in 2010.

The law would decriminalize possession for personal use and lower the sentence levels for small-scale trafficking.

Law

New Constitution, Art. 364:

“Addictions are a public health problem. It is the State’s responsibility to develop coordinated information, prevention and control programs for alcohol, tobacco, and psychotropic and narcotic substances; as well as offer treatment and rehabilitation for occasional, habitual, and problematic users. Under no circumstance shall they be criminalized nor their constitutional rights violated.”

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Drug Laws and Prison in Ecuador

Ecuador has one of the harshest drug laws in the hemisphere. A non-violent drug offender can receive the same sentence, sometimes even stiffer, than a murderer.

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Drug Laws and Prisons in Ecuador

Ecuador was never a significant center of production or traffic of illicit drugs; nor has it ever experienced the social convulsions that can result from the existence of a dynamic domestic drug market. While Ecuador has become an important transit country for illicit drugs and precursor chemicals and for money laundering, the illicit drug trade has not been perceived as a major threat to the country’s national security. However, for nearly two decades, Ecuador has had one of the most draconian drug laws in Latin America.

Download the chapter on Ecuador (PDF)
Download the background paper on Ecuador (PDF)

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Drug Law Reform in Ecuador

In Ecuador, the Correa government’s comprehensive justice sector reform project includes significant changes in drug legislation. The country has one of the most punitive drug laws in the hemisphere. In a perversion of justice, those accused of drug offenses are assumed guilty unless they can prove their innocence, mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines ensure excessively long sentences and arrest quotas have led to the imprisonment of growing numbers of those at the lowest end of the drug trafficking trade.

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Pardon for Mules in Ecuador

At the end of 2008, about 1,500 persons were released who were in Ecuadorian prisons sentenced for drug trafficking. The measure, known as “pardon for mules,” singled out a specific group of prisoners who were victims of indiscriminate and disproportionate legislation that was in effect for many years.

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