Ambika Satkunanathan. Most people convicted of drug offences are not major drug traffickers. They are often poor, marginalised people, who are found in possession of small amounts of narcotics. Many of them end up in prison because they are not able to pay the fine imposed by the court. When they are brought before a judge, they rarely know their rights, and often cannot afford a lawyer. If they are prosecuted, they can access court-appointed counsels, who are often inexperienced. Access to legal representation is a huge problem in Sri Lanka.

You don’t see rich kids in prison, because if they are caught doing drugs at a party, they would rarely be arrested. If arrested, they would mostly be released without being prosecuted. And if they were brought before a judge, they would be released after paying a fine.

AS. Sri Lankan law criminalises not only trafficking but also possession of drugs. The sentence varies depending on the quantity of drugs that are in your possession.
If the police find a person in possession of narcotics of less than one gram and the person agrees to go to rehabilitation, the person will be sent to a rehabilitation centre by a judge. If the individual possesses more than one gram, they will be sent to a remand prison until a government analyst issues a toxicology report on the exact quantity of pure drugs, such as cocaine or heroin, in their possession. If it is more than two grams, the person — if convicted — will be sentenced to death and held on death row, given the existence of a moratorium.

According to a 2007 law, if a police officer thinks that a person is suffering from drug dependency, the officer can arrest them and present them to a compulsory medical test. Once the medical report has been issued, the person is brought before a judge and is sentenced to be placed in a rehabilitation centre. The family of someone dependent on drugs can also request the judge to send them to compulsory rehabilitation.

AS. In prison, there is no specific treatment provided for people with drug dependence, even when they suffer severe withdrawal symptoms. The Prisons Department claims to run rehabilitation programmes at certain prisons, but the treatment is not scientific or evidence based, but relies mainly on abstinence. It is also ad-hoc and not part of a comprehensive national treatment plan or strategy. Prisoners who have a dependency are deemed to be unworthy of medical attention and are often denied medical care. Doctors are frequently reported verbally taunting or abusing these persons.

In state run drug rehabilitation centres, people are usually held for one year, first in Kandakadu (North central province) and then transferred to Senapura (North central province). These two rehabilitation centres are managed by the military and have no medical staff. The people concerned therefore do not have easy access to medical care. In addition, the programme in these centres is not evidence-based but revolves around abstinence, and people are denied medical care even when they are suffering severe withdrawal symptoms. The officers believe that people will overcome their dependency by engaging in physical activities. They force them to do physical labour, even when they are experiencing withdrawal symptoms, which can have serious consequences for their health.

Rehabilitation centres are plagued by violence. For instance, two people died at Kandarkadu in 2022. This year, when a young man at the centre attempted suicide, he was sent to a public hospital where he spent a month. He was then returned to the centre despite his mental health issues being exacerbated by his detention at the centre.