Ecuador has a sorted past when it comes to cannabis policy. Like many of its continental peers, Ecuador has experienced a significant amount of violent cartel activity over the years. Geographically positioned between Peru and Colombia, two of the largest cocaine producing countries, Ecuador’s cannabis policies have historically been driven by a ‘war on drugs’ mentality among its leaders.

For a long time, Ecuador’s cannabis policies did not differentiate between personal cannabis activity and large-scale trafficking activity. Both sets of cannabis activity resulted in harsh penalties for people caught by authorities.

In 2013, Ecuador’s National Assembly passed a new criminal code, which went into effect in 2014. The new criminal code effectively decriminalized the personal possession of up to 10 grams of cannabis. Unfortunately, the public policy change would later be repealed.

Cannabis advocates in Ecuador, affiliated with the Network of Cannabis Organizations and Individuals of Ecuador (REDCAN), launched an initiative in 2023 to gather the necessary number of signatures to force consideration of a cannabis regulation measure. REDCAN recently submitted the first batch of signatures to Ecuador’s National Assembly.

“The Network of Cannabis Organizations and Individuals of Ecuador (REDCAN) presented some 20,000 signatures to the National Assembly as part of the popular normative initiative process that seeks to regulate the use of cannabis in the country.” reported El Universo in its local coverage.

“We’re going to use this signature collection as a two-pronged strategy: to follow the process established by the CNE and to begin stimulating the debate within the National Assembly. We’re also submitting a letter to the president of the Legislative Assembly and the Health, Economic Development, and Justice committees,” stated Gabriel Buitrón, spokesperson for REDCAN.

Ecuador’s initiative process requires that the equivalent total of valid signatures amount to 0.25% of the total voter registration in the country, which is about 35,000 signatures. REDCAN’s goal is to gather the remaining 15,000 signatures by October. If they succeed, Ecuador’s Parliament will have 180 days to process the proposal.

The initiative aims to place cannabis under government control, to allow adults to obtain a medical prescription, to tax the prescriptions, and to invest the generated revenue in education and prevention. The proposal also seeks to create a national institute for cannabis regulation.