The government of the Republic of Moldova on Wednesday, 21 October, approved the National Strategy on drugs and addictions for 2026–2032. Health minister Alexandru Gasnaș presented the paper. Chișinău’s press note is dated the same day. This is a government strategy, not a new criminal law and not a funded programme of measures already running to 2032.

In 2025 the authorities recorded 704 new cases on the medical register of drug use, against 545 in 2024. Gasnaș said the phenomenon has changed faster than the state’s response: an adolescent can buy substances through a messaging app and reach emergency care with a substance doctors still do not know well enough. That is the minister’s diagnosis, not a death tally for 21 October.

The document aims at preventing use, improving access to treatment and recovery, fighting trafficking and spotting new dangerous substances quickly. It also covers addictions linked to alcohol, tobacco, gambling and problematic use of the digital environment. Strategy aims, not results measured today.

Interventions, the minister said, are fragmented: police on trafficking, doctors on poisonings, schools on prevention, social services when a family is already hit. The strategy asks for a system that prevents, spots risks and acts together, including by reorganising the National Anti-Drug Commission into a coordination mechanism. An announced reorganisation, not a new commission already in place.

On treatment, addiction services would be integrated with mental health, with community offers and continuity, including outside Chișinău. The paper speaks of preventing overdoses, of HIV and hepatitis, of testing, and of the National Drug Observatory plus a national early-warning system. Tools provided for, not a network already open.

Implementation is meant to come in stages, through the National Programme on drugs and addictions for 2027–2032, which would set measures, institutions, costs and indicators. That programme is not adopted with the strategy. Until it is, the closed fact is the government’s approval of the document: a 2026–2032 framework, not a change to the criminal code.

Image: Editor1722, T. Mosneaga Republican Clinical Hospital, Chisinau, 29 December 2023, CC0, Wikimedia Commons; the 2023 hospital, not a photograph of the 21 October 2026 cabinet meeting.

Sources consulted: Chisinau: National strategy on drugs and addictions 2026-2032 approved by the Government - RFI; Government approves the national strategy on drugs and addictions 2026-2032 - Government of Moldova.