Is Alcohol legal in Cuba?
Also known as: booze
- Legal status
- Not controlled in Cuba as an illicit drug. Alcohol is not a «droga ilícita» for the purposes of articles 235 to 238. The Code uses drunkenness as a matter going to responsibility, in the phrase «drogas o sustancias de efectos similares» used in the general part about a person who placed themselves in that state, rather than as a trafficking offence. Cuba operates no national list of controlled substances. The Código Penal creates the offences and names the subject matter only as «drogas ilícitas o sustancias de efectos similares», an undefined term. Across all 470,392 characters of the Code the words estupefaciente and psicotrópico appear zero times, and the only substances named anywhere are cocaína once and Cannabis, conocida por marihuana, twice.
- Consequences if caught
- Capital exposure: none. Articles 235 to 238 do not apply to it, so no drug penalty attaches. No capital or life exposure arises from this substance as such, because articles 235 to 238 reach only «drogas ilícitas o sustancias de efectos similares» and this is not one. Article 235.2, which carries «privación perpetua de libertad o muerte», is engaged by the drug offences alone. The name was searched in Ley 151/2022 articles 235 to 238 and returned «sin entrada como droga ilícita».
- If prescribed or medical
- Article 236 begins «La simple tenencia de drogas ilícitas o sustancias de efectos similares sin la debida autorización o prescripción facultativa», so a substance held under a doctor's prescription is outside the possession offence. Article 237.1(a) punishes the authorised professional who prescribes or administers for purposes other than strictly therapeutic ones.
- Documentation
- Carry any prescribed medicine in its dispensed packaging with the prescription, because article 236 turns on whether the holder has «la debida autorización o prescripción facultativa». No Cuban traveller allowance was read for this cell, so no quantity is stated.
- Cuba, Ley 151 de 2022, Código Penal, published in Gaceta Oficial No. 93 Ordinaria de 1ro. de septiembre de 2022 and in force from 1 December 2022, articles 235 to 238 and articles 33 and 34
- read from the Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba PDF, 141 pages, 907,882 bytes, located by walking the gazette's own search rather than by constructing an identifier
- gacetaoficial.gob.cu
- Provenance of this revision: consequences_street was re-authored in this pass from research/dossiers/Cuba_2cb_88_REBUILT_2026-09-20.docx. The other four fields are carried unchanged from the entry published before this batch, including the Gaceta Oficial reading described above, which was NOT re-performed in this pass.
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Court records
We have not yet assessed whether court records are publicly available for this jurisdiction.
Other substances confirmed in Cuba
Same substance, other countries
Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Cuba’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.
Before you travel
Verify current rules with the destination country’s official drug authority and your own country’s embassy before traveling. Find the destination’s U.S. embassy & official country guidance →
Non-U.S. travelers: check your own government’s travel advisory and embassy.
If you’re detained or arrested abroad
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