Abstract:
The calamity of drugs is one of the greatest threats in Sri Lanka at present.
The total number of drug related arrests were 81,156 in 2017. Compared
with 2016, drug related arrests have increased by 2% in 2017. Out of the
total drug related arrests, 36% were for heroin and 63.8% were for
cannabis. Most of the drug related arrests have been reported from the
western province (61%), followed by the southern province (9%) and the
central province (8%). The prevalence of drug related arrests was 506 per
100,000 population aged between 15-64 in 2017. Thus, the rapid growth of
the number of persons who were addicted to drugs is a tragic situation in
Sri Lanka. The main objective was to identify the connection between drug
use and poverty. The “Nawa Diganthaya” rehabilitation center in
Nittabuwa and the “Seth Sevana” rehabilitation center in Colombo were
used as source places to collect data. Quantitative data was collected by
providing questionnaires to 50 persons who were addicted to drugs. Case
studies and interviews were done to collect qualitative data. Secondary data
collection was based on survey reports, books and institutional sources.
Moreover, the principles of statistics and Excel were used to analyze the
data. According to the major findings of the research, the majority of
persons have used a considerable amount from their salary to use drugs and
due to that, the family economy has been diminished. The usage of drugs
has not been decreased even though the prices were increased. In such
circumstances, the main findings of this research are that drug addiction is
the major cause of poverty.
