There are over 15,000 women addicted to liquor and drugs in Sri Lanka and many young females including teenagers have become drug addicts, said Kurunegala Senior Divisional Secretary, Administration, R.M. Jayaratne.
Legal provisions were introduced in January under the Rehabilitation Act No. 2023/02 to rehabilitate women addicted to harmful drugs, Jayaratne told a meeting of National Youth Services Council (NYSC) members. He said that the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Maj. Gen. Darshana Hettiarachchi said that earlier there were no legal provisions to rehabilitate women drug-addicts. Nearly 28,000 drug addicts have been rehabilitated by the Government authorities during the past ten years.
Chairman of the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) Shakya Nanayakkara told a media conference recently that there are over 50,000 people who are addicted to drugs and three million Sri Lankans are addicted to tobacco. Jayaratne said that the number of fatal road accidents had gone up due to an increase in the consumption of liquor and drugs by drivers. According to the latest statistics of Police Headquarters almost 7,172 people had died due to road accidents from 2020 to 2022 and 67,687 road accidents had occurred.
Over 170 police officers had been found to be drug addicts and 286 officers of the Security Forces had been taken in for questioning due to liquor and drug-related offences during the past two years.
The Government has, therefore, planned to implement a massive operation next month to crack down on drug dealers and introduce tough laws against those who are found to be guilty of drug related offences, he added.