Will Cuba update its drug policy for the twenty first century?

Cuba has one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere. This is all the more impressive given that the country is located in a region long wracked by drug-related violence and home to the largest drug producers and consumers in the world. Reported negligible rates of illicit drug consumption, production, and retail suggest that Cuban authorities have successfully kept drugs like marijuana and cocaine out of Cuban hands. Notwithstanding this relative success, Cuba faces a number of imminent challenges with respect to illicit drugs. As the country continues to open its doors to foreign trade, travel, and a domestic private sector, illicit drug retail, production, and consumption will likely increase on the island. As this occurs, certain punitive aspects of Cuba’s drug policy may reproduce adverse effects trademark to drug prohibition seen elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean, jeopardizing public health and safety. Cuba has an unprecedented opportunity to avoid such outcomes by proactively upgrading its drug policy as it updates its economy—by building on strengths while adjusting for new vulnerabilities. Among other things, Cuba’s National Drug Commission, National Anti-Drug Directorate, and other bodies tasked with formulating and implementing national drug policy should continue to fortify border controls, to develop anti-money laundering measures, and to strengthen bilateral counternarcotics cooperation. More importantly, they could also emphasize prevention and treatment by decriminalizing the possession of all drugs for personal use, by adopting proven harm-reduction strategies, and by elaborating alternative sentencing procedures for non-violent drug offenders, including low-level traffickers and producers.