Several dozen people stood in circle in a room at a Havana psychiatric hospital, their hands held together as they chanted in unison, vowing to rid their bodies from “the toxins that enslave.” The collective plea to reclaim their freedom for just the next 24 hours was the first step of a 90-day detoxification before beginning rehabilitation.
Drug use was an almost-unknown phenomenon in Cuba until the beginning of this decade. However, a deepening economic crisis, shortages of basic goods and the emergence of low-cost synthetic drugs have combined to transform the landscape.
