The drug problem is one of the most serious challenges facing the modern world. Drug abuse poses a real threat to stability and security, hinders the socio-economic and political development of states, and serves as one of the main sources fueling terrorist and other transnational criminal activities.
A new trend has emerged with the spread of new psychoactive substances and other synthetic drugs, which are “taking consumers away” from traditional drugs (heroin, opium, marijuana, hashish), inevitably exerting an increasing impact on the development of the drug situation and the growing drug addiction among the population.
Combating Drug-Related Crime at the National Level
The basis of the domestic policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of combating drug-related crime is the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, Their Analogues and Precursors, and Measures to Counter Their Illicit Trafficking and Abuse.” In addition, combating drug trafficking and other forms of criminal activity is identified as one of the key priorities of the Foreign Policy Concept of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2020–2030.
Measures aimed at addressing these and other challenges and threats posed by modern drug-related crime are envisaged in the relevant Comprehensive Plan for Combating Drug Addiction and Drug Trafficking in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2026–2028. A Republican Headquarters on Drug Abuse Prevention and Countering Drug-Related Crime has also been established.
International Anti-Drug Cooperation
Kazakhstan is actively integrated into the international drug control system, having ratified all three UN Conventions in this field (1961, 1971, and 1988).
Kazakhstan actively participates in the work of conferences of the States Parties to the UN conventions and serves as a member of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) for 2025–2027 and the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) for 2026–2029.