Close to 740 new drugs had been added to the UN's list of banned substances, the National Dangerous Drug Control Board (NDDCB) said yesterday, but they were yet to be made illegal under Sri Lankan law.
NDDCB Preventive Education and Training Unit Assistant Director Pradeep Kumara, addressing a media briefing at the NDDCB, said it was difficult for law-enforcement officers to take action with addicts discovering new types of drugs everyday,
“We are in the process of amending our laws to incorporate these new drugs into the legal system,” he said.
Draft amendments had been sent to the Attorney-General’s Department for their input and the NDDCB is expected to submit the amendments to Parliament in a month’s time.
“There are various legal psychotropic substances used for treatment. We find pharmacists selling these to schoolchildren,” Kumara said. He added that Sri Lanka was not alone in updating laws and that other countries too, were in the process of amending their laws to keep up with new drugs.
According to the NDDCB, new trends of substance abuse were emerging with Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS), household products, digital drugs and synthetic drugs.
Further, they reported that numbers of injection drug-users had increased during the last two years in Sri Lanka, and that it would lead to the spread of numerous epidemics, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. The World Drug Report stated that cannabis continued to be the most trafficked drug worldwide, while there had been also been an increase in seizures of synthetic drugs.
Although there were 234 substances under control in 2014, the bulk of trafficking had been concentrated on a smaller number of substances.
Add new comment