Madar (Algiers) - Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Sunday, 15 November 2026, that flooding Algeria with drugs had become "a real war on our people and our youth", adding: "but we may be forced to go to the source of the production of these drugs within the framework of the right of legitimate self-defence", according to the Algerian daily Echorouk.
Tebboune was speaking as he presided over the opening of the 2026-2027 judicial year at the Supreme Court, in the presence of senior state officials and members of the government. He did not name any party when referring to the source of the drugs.
He said that "terrorism has been harnessed against Algeria and its neighbours", adding: "we will protect our country and our neighbours with the strength of our People's National Army" and "we defeated terrorism in the darkest days thanks to men".
According to the Ultra Algeria website, Tebboune said the country was being targeted through artificially created shortages affecting citizens' livelihoods and through drugs aimed at young people, recalling that when the situation became intolerable the state opened the Tanezrouft prison and introduced the death penalty.
The president vowed tougher laws to stop practices that hurt Algerians' purchasing power, warning against continued engineered shortages and speculation, and said economic opening must go hand in hand with strict oversight, otherwise the state would have to "devise other methods".
On the judiciary, he praised judges' efforts against corruption, described the newly created specialised commercial courts as a gain for the national economy, and called on the courts to adapt to new challenges, chief among them illicit enrichment, according to the same source.
Madar reported on 22 October that Algeria had ordered urgent investigations into food being dumped to create shortages.
