New Anti-Drug Law, a transformative milestone in Kuwait’s legal landscape: KHR
Landmark drug legislation -- a qualitative step that reinforces the country’s national protection framework and safeguards fundamental rights.
The Kuwait Human Rights (KHR) bureau affirmed that Decree Law No. 59 of 2025, titled “Combating Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and Regulating Their Use and Trade,” marks a transformative milestone in Kuwait’s legal landscape.
Published Sunday in the official gazette Kuwait Alyawm, the law is described as a qualitative legislative advance that reinforces the country’s national protection framework and safeguards fundamental rights.
In a statement to the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), the Bureau emphasized that updating the legal system in this sensitive area represents an essential response to international obligations and reflects Kuwait’s commitment to building an integrated, rights-based protective structure.
The Bureau praised the state’s forward-looking approach in modernizing its national policies and aligning them with leading global practices, particularly those endorsed by the United Nations and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. It underscored that combating drugs is not solely a security or legal issue, but a comprehensive national partnership aimed at ensuring public safety, health, and human security.
Coming into effect 14 days after its publication, the new legislation introduces some of Kuwait’s most stringent penalties to date. Structured across 84 articles and 13 chapters, the law forms a robust deterrent system targeting all forms of narcotic and psychotropic substance crimes.
Penalties now reach death sentences, life imprisonment, and fines of up to two million Kuwaiti dinars (USD 6.6 million) for offenses involving importation, smuggling, cultivation, or manufacturing of banned substances. The law also imposes harsher sanctions for trafficking, promotion, sale, and distribution.
Particularly severe punishments are reserved for crimes involving the exploitation of minors, offenses committed within treatment, rehabilitation, educational, sports, or correctional facilities, and cases where individuals are coerced into drug use.
Additional aggravated circumstances include the creation of criminal networks, planting narcotics to falsely implicate others, and misusing public office or authority to facilitate drug-related crimes.
With this decree, Kuwait ushers in a new phase of legislative reform, positioning itself firmly in line with international standards while fortifying societal protection and public welfare.
