Last we heard of a drug menace of this magnitude in Sri Lanka was almost four decades ago. With the war came the narcotics. Now in the midst of country’s biggest economic crisis in modern history, Sri Lanka is hit with Ice or crystal methamphetamine. Schoolchildren and young adults are falling prey to this drug at an alarming rate that health authorities, doctors, the Dangerous Drug Control Board and even politicians have started talking about its risk in public.

The Police are on alert. However given the number of duties handled by the police the task is not an easy one for them. Taking into consideration that this drug menace is snowballing into a national crisis, immediate steps should be taken to get the forces, especially the army to crackdown on the individuals engaging in Ice peddling. The army has already made headway in this regard in the Jaffna peninsula, however there’s an urgent need to entrust them the task of busting the Ice rackets in the rest of the country as well. This high risk addiction drug has already given rise to a new wave of thefts by the young too.

Vendors in and around schools can be the possible culprits as the substance is often sold in the form of a toffee or candy. Proposals have also been made to ban the presence of vendors in the vicinity of schools. It’s also essential to educate the schoolchildren across the country of its perils. It should be noticed that for decades the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) has been playing a pivotal role in curbing the drug menace in Sri Lanka with the help of its country-wide network. The ADIC which has won several awards from the World Health Organization (WHO) for its role in Sri Lanka, should be roped in by the government for its awareness campaigns especially for school and university students. 

Besides the ADIC, a slew of doctors too have been conducting awareness programmes in their individual capacity. The academics of the Department of Health Promotion of the Rajarata University, the first of its kind in South Asia, too have been doing a commendable job in educating the public on the drug menace through seminars, workshops and media.

With Ice creating havoc in the country, one also wonders the prudency behind the move to grow cannabis in Sri Lanka, especially at a time when the cannabis prices in the world market too are plunging. The price drop is owing to increased supply. However much the local authorities claim that the product would not be released to the local market once it’s grown here, given the level of corruption, especially among the officials, there’s absolutely no guarantee of such precautions even at the level of customs. 

Cannabis which harms the nervous system of the addicts is used in very small quantities to prepare a handful of Ayurvedic treatments. Ayurvedic practitioners have been acquiring the quantities they need through authorized sources. As such, there’s certainly no need for a mighty hurry to grow cannabis here in Sri Lanka. As to why the government is trying to make Sri Lanka a country that grows plants used to make addictive substances while we are already battling with drug menace, is a question. The latest one hears is that a group of drug peddlers in Ampitiya, Kandy has set a student who got 9 A s this time at the O/Ls, on fire. The hapless student has sustained serious injuries. The victim’s family is scared to even make a complaint to the police as area people believe that the police are in hand glove with 
the pedlars. 

State Minister of Justice and Prisons Anuradha Jayaratne is on record that the Supreme Court is now vested with powers to sentence a person in possession of more than five grams of Ice, to death. While this is welcoming, one wonders how the government is going to justify its promotion of cannabis plantations in Sri Lanka even for ‘export purposes’ while tightening its own laws against narcotics. Besides, this too is happening in the backdrop of a major economic crisis. 

If sanity prevails the government should stop encouraging projects to grow cannabis here with immediate effect. Sri Lanka can do well without a social crisis owing to cannabis on top of the financial crisis.