Prisión preventiva dispuesta contra consumidores de drogas, procesados por tenencia de sustancias sujetas a fiscalización.

Abstract

Pretrial detention as a precautionary measure within Ecuador's accusatory criminal justice system has become the most commonly ordered measure by judges with jurisdiction over flagrant crimes. This measure, based on a securitized interpretation, guarantees the arraignment of defendants for trial for the crime of illicit trafficking in controlled substances. Hence, this measure is considered an anticipated penalty, applied immediately without the intrinsic considerations established in the Constitution that it should be applied as a last resort. Consequently, this practice and the obsolescence of precautionary measures other than pretrial detention have led to extremely overcrowded prisons. In this sense, the disproportionate use of pretrial detention in this study is based on the fact that individuals suffering from drug addiction were placed in a criminal justice system that does not recognize them as individuals with a public health problem, as it lacks thresholds determined by a realistic interpretation of drug use. In this way, protected at the time by the strict application of Resolutions issued by the National Council for the Control of Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances - CONSEP, it was decided that depending on the weight and substance seized during the arrest, the penal norm would consistently determine scales that would classify the sanction to be imposed for the commission of the crime of trafficking. illicit substances classified as subject to control.