Sri Lanka’s Prisons Commissioner and Media Spokesman, Jageth Weerasinghe, has called for the implementation of the death penalty for large-scale drug traffickers, claiming it is necessary to “protect future generations” as the majority of drug addicts are “Sinhala-Buddhist.”
Delivering a lecture at an awareness programme to schoolchildren on the dangers of drug abuse, the Commissioner disclosed Sri Lanka has 36 prisons which were designed to accommodate a maximum capacity of10,500 inmates, but are operating capacity with 36,000 inmates currently being held. He stated that 65% of inmates have been imprisoned due to drug- related offences and that most drug addicts were Sinhala- Buddhist youth.
The commissioner cautioned attendees that drug abuse was growing at a worrying rate amongst young people. He warned them against synthetic drugs, such as crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice”, as they are made up of a mixture of toxic chemicals and claimed that they could fatally destroy the body “in two years”.
The Commissioner urged political leaders to appeal to Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake and advocate for those found guilty of large-scale drug trafficking to be sentenced to death and hanged. He emphasised that the ongoing drug crisis is devastating future generations and warned that the death penalty for drug traffickers was essential to protect the nation’s future.
Regional watchdogs have in recent years identified Sri Lanka as an emerging transit hub for narcotics, linking South Asia to global trafficking networks.
