The Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas (DNCD), the Dominican Republic’s drug-control agency, reported seizing 24,139.53 kg of controlled substances between January and June 2026.[1] The six-month balance was 6,091.92 kg larger than in the same period of 2025, when seizures totalled 18,047.61 kg.[1] Marijuana was the most seized drug of the half-year at 12,101.94 kg.[1] Those half-year marijuana seizures already exceeded everything seized in the whole of 2025, when full-year seizures were 11,660.08 kg (Diario Libre’s October breakdown would put the 2025 marijuana total at 11,098.38 kg).[1] Cocaine came second with 11,930.84 kg, so marijuana led by 171.10 kg and the two drugs made up more than 99% of the volume.[1] The DNCD put the half-year hashish seizures at 17.34 kg, up from 1.22 kg a year earlier, alongside smaller increases in crack, opium and ecstasy.[2] The agency’s operations led to the detention of 24,076 people between January and June, 127 more than in the same period of 2025.[1] Officers also seized 984 vehicles and 212 firearms during operations across the country.[1]

Between January and March, the DNCD recorded 1,036.93 kg of marijuana, and between April and June the figure jumped to 11,065.01 kg, more than 90% of the half-year marijuana total.[1] In the same half of 2025, the authorities had taken 9,164.87 kg of marijuana.[1] Marijuana seizures rose by 2,937.07 kg, or 32%, year on year, while cocaine rose by 3,120.65 kg, or 35.4%.[1] The first three months of 2026 recorded 1,036.93 kg of marijuana and 6,388.37 kg of cocaine, according to the later nine-month breakdown.[3]