Save our children from this drug menace! - EDITORIAL

The drug menace raising its head inside schools and children falling prey to narcotics is a great cause for concern. 
The habit of depending on something like a drug is not a problem associated only with boys; girls too have come under scrutiny time and again for the use of drugs. 

In these present times we have heard enough stories about schoolboys and girls experimenting with narcotics. These drugs are sometimes sold inside schools; hence parents cannot think that their offspring are safe once they enter  through the gate of an academic institution. Just a few days ago newspapers reported that ice (Crystal Methamphetamine) and other drugs were located inside a canteen at a school in Gampaha. In October this year the Special Task Force nabbed two drug dealers inside a school in Hikkaduwa. Only a handful of incidents related to the drug trade are reported on. Some stories never surface hence how concerning the overall picture is regarding the consuming of drugs by children island-wide isn’t known accurately, as yet.  

Sadly, all this is happening at a time when lawmakers are entertaining discussions in parliament to legalise the cultivation of marijuana (Ganja) as an export product. The message sent out to the younger generation as a result by the lawmakers is that if marijuana can be exported as a legal product there is nothing wrong for the people here to consume it. Children and those in their youth will not hesitate to remember a saying they learned at school which goes, ‘What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander’.  
This is why State education authorities have taken steps to introduce a bag checking procedure at schools. All this measures have been taken because drugs have entered some schools in the guise of toffees and sweets. 

One person who has shown great concern regarding this disturbing trend that’s setting in is Commissioner General of Education M.J Gunasiri. He has warned in a newspaper interview about the manner in which drugs are being distributed among children.  
Parents and experts on child psychology have raised concerns stating that the issue related to narcotics and school children- which is spreading- is of a catastrophic nature. 

To understand any subject you have to dig at its roots. You have to find the very beginning and see how the subject has evolved over the years.  Many years ago parents had to only deal with narcotics like marijuana and heroin. Now they have to deal with something bigger; ice. Some years ago we read how schoolboys and young adults were addicted to products like Babul and Madana Modaka. There were those who were addicted to a certain cough syrup because it contained substance which made the user high for even a short period of time. Those types of items used by youth were termed as psychoactive substances and not established as illegal drugs. Now the situation is worse and what we hear and see at present is scary; especially the repercussions of consuming an illegal substance like ‘ice’. A recent report revealed how a party organised via facebook ended up in disaster with as many as 14-15 children falling unconscious after consuming drugs. 

We must be alarmed for other reasons as well. How many times have we heard lawmakers accusing their fellow parliamentarians about being involved in the illicit drugs trade? If the lawmakers are involved in the drugs trade how can they point a finger at a handful of citizens doing the same? The culture of hands being clean must come from the top. You cannot start cleaning ‘weeds’ from the bottom and reach up when decision makers also have had a hand in this illegal business. 
In this context it is apt to remember the efforts taken by former President Maithripala Sirisena who initiated a programme to eradicate narcotics from the market. But sadly Sirisena found out the painful way that removing obstacles standing in the way of a respectable lawmaker wanting to a do a proper job and eradicating narcotics completely were goals unthinkable of achieving.