Ababsa, Hamza

The significant escalation in the rate of drug and psychotropic substance crimes has necessitated the concerted efforts of international and regional entities to combat them at both international and national levels. The Algerian legislator has attempted to establish a legal strategy based on the principle of preventive measures as well as enforcement measures through enacting a legal arsenal, the most recent of which is Law 25-03, which introduced deterrent provisions with penalties reaching up to thirty years imprisonment and in some cases extending to life imprisonment, in an effort to address the gaps that existed in previous laws. Therefore, the aim of this study is to highlight the foundations of criminalization and punishment introduced by the Algerian legislator under Law 25-03 and to evaluate their effectiveness in practice.