45,000 drug addicts in Sri Lanka: NDDCB

By Darshana Sanjeewa and Ajith Siriwardana
The National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) said yesterday that some 45,000 Sri Lankans were drug addicts and that four camps had been set up in Kandy, Nittambuwa, Galle and Colombo to rehabilitate drug addicts.
“About 2,000 drug addicts come for in-house treatment annually. But the NDDCB has facilities to treat only 1,000 of them annually while the NGOs also treat 2,000 drug addicts annually,” NDDCB Chairperson Leisha De Silva said.
She said the drug addicts were provided with three months’ vocational training and special programmes were conducted by the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board and the Health Ministry to help the patients overcome stress.
“Children below 20 years are being rehabilitatd in the Kandy centre while the others are categorized according to the duration of their drug addiction and sent to respective camps. Special attention has been made to provide school education to the children as well,” Ms. De Silva said.
She said another camp was established in Kandakadu in August last year to rehabilitate drug addicts who were in remand prison, where they were provided with an year’s vocational training apart from medical treatment.