Ecuador May Become The Next Country To Decriminalize Drug Use

Ecuador May Become The Next Country To Decriminalize Drug Use
The Huffington Post | By Carly Schwartz
Posted: 04/20/2015 6:04 pm EDT Updated: 3 hours ago

Ecuador is in the process of considering a groundbreaking piece of legislation that would decriminalize the use of illegal drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, according to GlobalPost.

"Treating the drug phenomenon in a repressive way, as was done in the 1980s and 1990s when prison was the only destination for the drug consumer, is absurd," Carlos Velasco, who chairs the Ecuadorean congress’ Commission of the Right to Health and who authored the bill, wrote on his Facebook page earlier this month.

Rather than punishing illicit drug users with jail time, the measure would create a system to provide treatment and rehabilitation services for addicts. Velasco added on Facebook that educating Ecuador's citizens about the harmful effects of drug abuse is also key.

Should the bill pass, Ecuador would be the second Latin American country to take a dramatic step toward reform in a region of the world that's been devastated by the war on drugs for the past several decades. Uruguay, which legalized marijuana in 2013, is in the process of implementing a government-run system of growing, distributing and regulating the plant.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/20/ecuador-drug-laws_n_7103618.html

LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141072741