Umbrales de tenencia de drogas ilícitas, consumo y salud neonatal: El caso de Ecuador

Work curriculum

Drug consumption and abuse is considered a public health problem. 6% of the population consume drugs, 13% suffer a drug use disorder (Who, 2021). The use of drugs subject to inspection affects socity in various aspects, since not only has a direct affectation health, but it can also increase local crime, couple’s violence, educational performance, among local incossecia, couple violence, educational performance, between local incossence, couple violence, educational performance, among other other.

The effects of drug use on health are well documented, have been some of them, for example, neurological deteros and the increased risk of certain infectious cooling, between ootra medical conditions (UNODC, 2018). In addition, drug use in women of childbearing age is a particular problem problem because maternal drug consumption can cross the placenta and damage to the fetus.

Given the socioeconomic burden of drug use, the countries have implemented various actions to enroll them, ranging from communication campaigns to liberalization of marijuana liberalization. For example, by January 2024, Canada, Uruguay and 27 jurisdictions of the United States had legalized the production and sale of cannabis for non -medical use (UNODC, 2024). In this context, Ecuador to pray an excellent case study. In 2013, the Government, to recognize the health of drug consumers, so for distinction from traffickers, promulgated a solution that establishes an establishment a «table» that sets them the maximum quantities of the possessi -states established a control. In this way, the person who carries quantities up to the maximum established in the table can be considered as consumption consumption, therefore, to be in need for medical attitude, instead of being treated as a trafficker. At this point it is important to emphasize that illicit drugs no legal son in the country.

This study was analyzed how this policy – organized not to criminalize illicit drug consumers – can have an impact on the health of the newly initiated, through an increase in drug use among women of age reproduction. To do this, a combinacy of administrative data of the surveys was used: records of living births, neonatal hospital discharges, ambulatory attentive records and hospitalization of women of reproductive age. This proves, in the first place, if there is an increase in hospitalizations of women with diagnosis of relationships with drug use/abuse, and then, if there are more relational neonatal hospitalizations with maternal drug use. In addition, health inmates are evaluated at birth such as the average weight and low weight.

It was found that the proportion of newborns with low problemphic weight compared to other areas of the country. This differentiation between areas is definition from the construction of compound unite that adsalva the prevalence of drug esso, the frequency of drug esso and the reto traffic rate rate. In addition, an increase in neonatal hospitalization rates is observed due to AFCCions related to the TRRAS Drug Mine consumption The additional 2013 resolution, an increase in the rate of hospitalizations related to drug use is also observed.

Trends in hospitalization rates neonatal relationships with drug use

The work faces the main challenges from the shortage of data that directly measure the consumption of illegal substances, since the Data Source Director comes from records of hospitalizations administrations. This leads to the following considerations:

• You can only measure the extreme use/abuse of drugs that require hospitalization.
• The results could reflect an increase in the behavior of medical care for consumption of drugs by drugs by consumed or the expansion of medical attitude aimed at relaxic affects with drugs. However, the results of neonatal hospitalizations by AFCCions related to the mother’s drug use support an increase in drug use by manjeres rather than an increase in the search for mandica attention.
• There is no hay information about the mother’s health.

In summary, the work provides interesting results in terms of unwanted effects of the non -criminalization policy of drug consumption. In addition, it highlights the need to have data that allows to directly quantify the consumption of illegal substances in the country.

Grace Armijos presenting his work at the Evaluaes table of the XLIII Days AES

Victoria Serra-Sastre comments

Grace’s study investigates the relationship between illicit drug use and the health of neonates. The work focuses on the law introduced in Ecuador in 2013 by which the amount of illicit drug possession was established, and estimates the impact of the list of using a differences in differences where the group of treatment in law in regions of greater exposure to drug response.

Perhaps the most important part of the work is to define the index that determines the degree of exposure to drug use. This index is based on the prevalence and frequency of drug use, hospitalizations and drug trafficking rate in different regions of Ecuador. There is great regional variability in each of these components and I think I was beneficial, these individual measures exploded to understand different exposure levels.

The second relevant aspect to estimate the impact of the law is to hold Sebes are in the treatment group. Since the law was activated in 2013, those babies are scheduled as of April 2012 are in the treatment group, while the babies thrown together to this date are in the control group. This threshold could be considered arbitrary, since you drink desperate concepts of April 2012 (in October or November of the same year) son susceptible to an Mayor Exhibition. Estimates could be carried out where the threshold is varied to explore if that entails changes in the estimated effect.

These son my main suggestions to strengthen the study analysis. It should be stressed that Grace offers a very detailed and rigorous analysis with robust results. The law Tinee a considerable impact, where neonates in regions with greater exposure to drug use have a mayor likely to be born with low or very low weight. With this work, Grace contributes huge a tempting of the unintentional effects on the health of babies of a law, such as the 2013 introduction, a relevant special minister given the crioate evidence that aims to be born with a low weight is related to a higher risk risk risk Risk Risk Risk Risk and the room that is born with low weight is related long term.

Victoria Serra-Sastre commenting on the work at the Evaluaes table of the XLIII Days AES