Boy, do not touch that plug: The table of drug use in Ecuador in the light of critical criminology

In Ecuador, some political operators achieved a legal disposition that allows high amounts of illicit substance consumption without addressing the other parts of the production and distribution chain. Although the defenders of the consumption table use sources of critical criminology, it is observed that such an approach is not relevant without addressing the context, that is: the criminal situation and the apparatuses of social control in operation. This article points out the danger of: a) allowing an undesirable increase of the criminal opportunity, b) erroneously assuming that the consumption table will lead to abolition, c) confusing the existence of a process of criminalization of the subordinate sectors with converting the delinquent in a political actor of democratic change. At the same time, several researchers indicated how the relationship between the decree of the tenure or consumption table and the increase in criminal activities took place.