Cuba reasserts principle of zero tolerance policy on drugs

On the occasion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Cuban authorities posted several messages on X reasserting the country’s zero tolerance approach to drugs.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero urged a joint effort to prevent drug use, raise awareness, and fuel social rejection of this phenomenon, whereas Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, stressed that Cuba fights against this scourge every day “in the conviction that the country can win".

On her end, Martha del Carmen Mesa, president of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Culture, Science, Technology, and Environment, remarked that Cuba, as a signatory of approved multilateral legal instruments, pays special attention to drug prevention and maintains a zero tolerance policy on illegal drug trafficking.

In 2024, as Cuban Minister of Justice Oscar Silvera Martínez noted at the 13th International Legal Forum of St. Petersburg, Cuban courts tried 980 drug-related offenses resulting in convictions in 97% of the cases and prison sentences in 94%.

"In the face of transnational organized crime, our country recognizes that international cooperation remains a key principle of the States and the only way to win this battle," the official concluded, reaffirming Cuba's commitment to joint work to tackle this global challenge.