Sri Lanka’s deepening drug and alcohol crisis

Robert Frost once wrote, ‘Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.’ It’s a place like Hotel California in the popular Eagles song by that name — you can check out any time you like but you can never leave.

It’s all about family. The prodigal son or daughter can return. And when they do, other residents cannot pack their bags and leave, however distasteful the returnee has turned out to be or the returning is.

And even if they are far away, ‘family’ remains, in our thoughts and in our hearts, whether they are ‘prodigal’ or not. Indeed, while there are degrees of prodigality or extravagant behaviour that displease friends and relatives, few things can make people grieve as extreme addiction to narcotics and alcohol. It is a ‘family matter’ unlike anything else. It is in fact a household matter wherever the addict may reside.

Alcohol and drugs are not new. It would be hard to find anyone who has not had to consider writing an essay about ‘the drug problem’ while at school. So we all know about dangerous drugs, narcotics and illegal substances. We know their names and we’ve noticed how the names have changed. We know there’s education on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. We know there are laws and the kind of measures adopted by law enforcing agencies.

There’s no dearth of information. Raids, arrests and seizure of drugs are regularly reported. We are told they are destroyed. In fact, just the other day Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe announced that the incinerator built in Wanathavilluwa for the purpose of destroying narcotic drugs produced before courts will be opened next month.

Nevertheless, there’s no sign of the menace itself being 'incinerated' any time soon. It is a problem that has striking similarities with the problem of terrorism that Sri Lanka had to contend with for three decades. At some point one must wonder if those in power or those who have the authority are even serious about bringing this particular ‘war’ to a conclusive end.

On the one hand we have politicians, in fact almost all politicians and political parties, thundering from the political stage that the drug menace can and will be eradicated. Talk is cheap, as they say. Noises are made. Some action is taken. These however amount to little more than empty rhetoric and minor skirmishes respectively. Either no one is interested in a lasting solution, or they are simply clueless about what needs to be done. In this regard it is disturbing indeed that there is talk of Members of Parliament and even ministers using drugs.

Test politicians

If this is true, it means that the very people who are mandated to eliminate the problem are themselves victims. It would be akin to terrorists being tasked to rid the country of terrorism! Perhaps the time has come to implement ‘random drug testing’ as it is done in sports where athletes are tested to see if they have taken performance enhancing substances.

The police know that a considerable proportion of petty crimes in the country are committed by drug addicts’ hell bent on securing the wherewithal to buy their next fix. No one is safe. Least of all members of the addict’s family. They not only have to live with the truth that nothing in the house is safe because the would-be thief is a member of the household but have to deal with all the abuse and violence that a deranged mind can conceive and unleash on them.

Typically, as always, it is the women and children who are at the most risk. In addition to physical abuse the children run the risk of being mentally scarred for life by a parent who is an alcoholic or a drug user. The parents, especially if they are ill, infirm or old are helpless and are held hostage all day long. Theirs is a lived nightmare from which they awaken unto yet another endless day of trauma.

People get addicted to drugs and alcohol for many reasons and availability is only one of them. There’s something rotting in our system, our society, and it’s being allowed to get worse. The stench however can no longer be dismissed.

There are questions that need to be asked. Why is it that politicians who vow to combat the problem never spell out a program? Although there are few private institutions that try to address the issue, why is it that no government has taken a genuine interest to address this serious matter that affects a country socially and economically? Why do we treat addicts mostly as offenders and not as people who require treatment? Why is there so much braggadocio about drug pushers being arrested and drug caches being seized, but nothing concrete is done to stop the inflow of drugs? Do we have enough rehabilitation centres and programmes to treat addicts? Do we have enough people who are trained to handle drugs and alcohol addicts? Why does it seem that there’s a lack of coordination among different institutions mandated to tackle the problem in its many and complex manifestations?

We could also ask what role religious institutions and schools can play. Priests and educators also talk about drugs and alcohol, but can they not do more than detailing a problem whose details are already known?

The future is bleak. This is not a disaster that is waiting to happen but one which is unfolding before our very eyes. Tragically, society as a whole and the relevant authorities are either turning a blind eye or resorting to cosmetic measures. The picture is not pretty, and no one knows how ugly it all is as do those who have to deal with a family member who has fallen victim and in turn has thrust the entire household into a deep well of misery. Where do they turn to? Where can they go? Who thinks about them?

Tourism high

We need leaders who can see things others don’t see but what we have are leaders who cannot see what even small children or average citizens see. Those in power and those aspiring to obtain power appear to be having a great party oblivious to what’s happening with the public.

It is also disturbing that some powerful and privileged persons have privately dismissed the problem, claiming that drugs and tourism go hand in hand and therefore it is some kind of necessary evil. This is unadulterated nonsense. It is an easy and unconscionable way of sweeping a national tragedy under the carpet. And it is not the politicians who get tripped but the public — the addicts themselves and each and every person whose lives are impacted by the existence of drugs and addicts. Especially their near and dear.

Only the uneducated, self-serving, cheap and visionless politicians will think that you need drugs to promote tourism. We don’t want to be known as a nation that is good for drugs. That’s not the way we should market Sri Lanka. With the right leaders and attitude Sri Lanka can work towards having a reputation for the best drugs and alcohol rehabilitation centres so that people will come here for treatment. Sri Lanka is marketed for its extraordinary beauty and rich heritage etc. We have things that most other countries don’t have but we have not found the art of marketing them. Our politicians only know to provide free entertainment by publicly behaving in a stupid and childish way. They just don’t have the ability to think deep or big. They only know to think deep and big when it comes to furthering self-interest.

Power politics

Drug lords have money and money can buy power and with power you can do wonders for a few but definitely not for the majority. All this is known. Just like families try to keep the addiction of a member secret, those who are hand in glove with the drug barons seem to close ranks when the system of mutual benefits is threatened. The difference is that families don’t have much choice. They are moved by shame and love. The powerful are comfortably numbed by the enormous benefits and the need to keep intact the secrets of their complicity.

There are of course principled and professionally sharp individuals in the police and other arms of the justice system who work tirelessly to combat the drug menace but their efforts are relentlessly compromised at some point by the intervention of some bigwig or another. Therein lies the problem and the solution.

Sadly, for most of our politicians Sri Lanka is a nonstop party. Drugs constitute the fuel that keeps the party going. They cannot comprehend how things actually work or, worse, do understand but are willing to sacrifice future generations as long as their greed is adequately fed. They don’t care about the reputation of our country. They want to have fun and occasionally attend a public event to get as much publicity as possible for them. It’s a sad state of affairs. We are yet to hear presidential hopefuls and political parties who claim to have the country's best interests in their hearts come out with a pragmatic plan to deal with the problem. Instead, just like 'terrorism' in a time not too long ago, 'drugs' is being seen as the proverbial beggar's wound.

The powerful are not being held accountable and it is time they were. We know where the buck stops. Literally. It is the future of our children that is at stake here and therefore our future as a decent, civilised and safe nation that is being compromised before our very eyes. Can we afford to continue looking the other way?

We cannot. We can fool ourselves into thinking that we can check out any time we like, but we can never leave.