Tuesday, 27 August 2013 00:00
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Taking a positive step, the Government has decided to rehabilitate drug offenders rather than condemning them to long prison sentences that at times worsen their dangerous habit. However, clamping down on drug lords still requires priority.
Recognising that drug addiction has become a huge problem in the society wasting the energetic young generation, Minister of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms has proposed the establishment of rehabilitation centres under the Bureau of Commissioner General of Rehabilitation.
According to Government statistics, 78% of imprisonments in 2011 are drug users. The number of imprisonments due to drug addiction reached 10,568 in 2011 while 6,165 persons had been imprisoned due to the same offence for the second time and 2,073 for more than two occasions.
Reports have indicated that the Government plans to use personnel that rehabilitated former LTTE cadres for this task. The plan has already garnered Cabinet approval and will likely be implemented soon, yet this does nothing to lighten the importance to capturing drug traffickers.
Police have noted that in the first six months of 2012, over 19,000 people suspected of drug possession were arrested. Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) has been placed on alert that Sri Lanka is being used as a transit point for smuggling cocaine to other countries.
It was reported in 2012 February that special teams have been deployed at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) to detect the attempts. According to recent information, Sri Lanka has also been used as a transit point involving other countries such as Brazil, Peru, Thailand and Nigeria. The PNB should not be surprised as drug trafficking via Sri Lanka has been a major point of concern for many years. In 2011 the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board warned that the country was under increasing threat in its annual report.
According to the report, 58 foreigners have been arrested in Sri Lanka for drug trafficking within the last five years. Of them 25 were Pakistanis, four Indians, six Maldivians and five Iranians. In 2010 alone, 25 foreigners were arrested for the trafficking of 55 kilos of heroin and 3.978 kilos of cocaine. Besides this, two Sri Lankans were arrested in India for drug-related offences.
From 2009 to 2010, the street value of heroine increased by 43%, showing the massive amount of money involved in the trafficking. The report also pointed out that over 30,000 people were imprisoned in 2010 on drug-related charges, creating a massive challenge for law enforcement authorities.
Drug addiction may not seem to be a grave problem for the public, but if allowed to grow it could have serious effects on the youth and overall society. It is no secret that the drug trade often receives powerful political patronage and given the longevity of trafficking in Sri Lanka, it can be supposed that the support has also extended over many long years.
Taking tough and holistic action against these offenders is the only way to prevent a horrific problem from emerging. It is clear from the latest statistic that Sri Lanka needs to step up its vigilance though awareness, better legal action and tougher punishment for the drug lords in the country.
