Article #2254

Many people are turning to prescription drugs – and some to herbal remedies and even hard drugs – amid an outlook that feels bleaker than the collapse of the Soviet Union

Cris Sánchez believed he had left Cuba for good when he moved to London in 1994, but concerns for his ailing parents brought him back in 2018. Since then, the strain of life in Havana has caused him to turn to prescription drugs – “Just to take the edge off things,” he said.

He is not alone. Currently under a US-imposed oil blockade, and following years of economic decline, Cubans are self-administering regulated drugs in growing numbers, as a mental health crisis envelopes the island.