Drug usage among rich and elite rises in Sri Lanka

• In Kandy alone drug addiction has increased five fold in 2025 compared to the previous year

By Shane Seneviratne

Colomob, Jan. 15 (Daily Mirror) - In a worrying twist to Sri Lanka’s ongoing battle against narcotics, recent data and law enforcement reports reveal a notable increase in drug use among affluent communities and high-socioeconomic groups in districts across Sri Lanka, a trend that has alarmed policymakers and the law enforcement officers alike.

While nationwide drug abuse has climbed sharply, with authorities seizing vast quantities of heroin, crystal methamphetamine, cannabis, cocaine and millions of narcotic pills between January 2025 and early January 2026, police have flagged a distinct increase in consumption among professionals, well-off youths, and high society men and women.

While these numbers underline a forceful enforcement drive, analysts note that raw seizures alone do not capture emerging consumption trends, particularly among wealthier and more privileged segments of society, who have traditionally been under-represented in arrest statistics but are now increasingly visible in drug culture circles.

Since taking office in September 2024, the NPP government has made anti-narcotics action a cornerstone of its national security and social policy agenda. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has framed the drug problem as a “national scourge” requiring a comprehensive response that goes beyond.

In Kandy alone, drug addiction has increased fivefold in 2025 compared to the previous year, police said.

Meanwhile, addressing the “Ratama Ekata” National Operation aimed at eradicating the drug menace, held at the Kandy District Secretariat, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Central Province, Lalith Pathinayake said police raid reports indicate a sharp rise in the circulation and use of narcotics in the Kandy district.

He warned that one of the most alarming trends is the growing number of women in high social positions and schoolchildren becoming addicted to drugs.

Highlighting a sharp rise in drug use in the Kandy Division in 2025 compared to 2024, the Senior DIG said that according to raid statistics, heroin seizures had increased by 1.2 kilograms, while “ice” had risen by 3 kilograms and 23 grams. As a result, drug use in the Kandy Division has increased fivefold, he noted.

He further stated that prisons have now become factories that produce hardened criminals, pointing out that a person imprisoned even for a small heroin packet often returns to society after acquiring the mindset and skills of a serious criminal.

The Senior DIG also said that drug transactions are carried out through easy cash systems or by depositing money into bank accounts, which are often opened using street beggars or the identity cards of deceased persons. He explained that bank officials are not legally required to inform the police about such deposits, but are obliged to report suspicious transactions to the Financial Crimes Unit attached to the Central Bank. By the time investigations are carried out months later, it is often impossible to trace the real account holder, and in many cases a roadside beggar is found to be the registered owner.

He added that drug traffickers obtain mobile phone SIM cards using similar methods. Although regulations introduced by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission require SIM cards to be issued only upon verification of national identity cards, this procedure is often not properly followed, he stressed.

Senior DIG Pathinayake said drug use has increased to unimaginable levels and that Sri Lanka has become a transit hub for drug traffickers. Therefore, he said, the fight against drugs cannot be carried out by the police alone and requires the collective support of all segments of society.