The Government is visibly pushing their ‘act tough’ on crime policy, much to the satisfaction of the masses and newsrooms across the media spectrum. Most Sri Lankans are impressed by the Government’s efforts in their first year.

Unfortunately, in the past and even today, most counter narcotics operations have been hijacked by a Governmental-Political mindset of ‘Show the public we are doing something’. The focus seems to be on the photo opportunity, rather than the success of prosecution. While the increase in detection and arrests is most welcomed, there is still cause for concern.

One major question which no one is answering, is the fact the volume of narcotics detected is massive. Especially the volume of Methamphetamine, commonly known as ‘Ice’, which is huge. It begs the question if the national approach to the issue needs rethinking.

If that volume is for domestic consumption, the rationale would be that our cities would be filled with ‘zombie’ like victims, as seen in some US cities due to narcotics like Fentanyl and other Opioids. The volume of victims who would have overdosed, been rushed into EMT would be much higher, wouldn’t they?

Going by official statistics which are available, that’s not the case but we may certainly be getting there. Most of the data Sri Lanka relies on to craft their counter narcotics approach comes from law enforcement reports of arrests, interceptions and intelligence reports of drug use in different districts. Do we effectively use that information to model our countermeasures or do we need better data sets are questions which should be asked?

We need to acknowledge that Sri Lanka does have gaps in reporting, due to stereotypes about drug abuse, stigma of acknowledging use, reporting processes or lack thereof, etc. There are no annual reports of the number of patients treated for overdose or drug-related issues at State Hospital OPD’s or at private clinics. At least non-which is publicly known. And there doesn’t seem to be a significant effort to introduce a system where medical practitioners can collect statistics without being in breach of ethical responsibilities to the patients. However, the crisis would be more visible – pronounced if the volumes of ‘Ice’ which are found is consumed domestically. Sri Lanka also has not carried out a wastewater survey to deduce the drug abuse habits of any particular city or population group. Such surveys done in Europe and the Americas often deliver valuable data sets which are used to model drug use habits and estimate quantities which are consumed, which is helpful to craft more targeted and effective countermeasures and policies.

The school of thought that Sri Lanka is a transshipment hub for narcotics, is gaining credibility. And, if that is what is transpiring, Sri Lanka has to change its gameplan. We need to identify the markets, narcotics are transhipped to from Sri Lanka, and work with those governments to reduce demand, disrupt supply and lock up the top traffickers. Sri Lanka needs to improve our diplomatic and intelligence sharing systems to be effective in that domain.

While Sri Lankans are eager to see the drug kingpins and their political supporters and beneficiaries brought to book, the theme of counter narcotics should not be one of political expediency.

Drug seizures should not be about cheap – ‘blow by blow’ televised commentaries, it should be about sound prosecution, effective imprisonment, a robust and well-resourced rehabilitation system, dismantling of domestic and transnational trafficking networks, and awareness building about it. Repeated or rebounded versions of drag net style – media-led ‘Operation Yukthiya’ will do little impact other than fill the remand prisons with more victims.

It is clear that our prison system has failed as many ‘kingpins’ continue to manage their networks from within. This needs to be fixed first. It is commendable that the Government is seemingly interested in weeding out organised crime ‘compromised’ officers from the law enforcement agencies. Yet, there is a long road to go there. There are serious concerns about the integrity of many staff members of the Prisons system, as there are about those in the Police Department, Specialist units and other agencies like Customs and Immigration. Concerns about some in the legal community also being compromised to organised crime networks, brings home the realisation that Sri Lanka must shed biases and egos about the ‘field of work’ and ensure everyone is properly scrutinised.

Also, we need to improve our prosecutorial structures, forensic investigations and evidence presenting. Our indictments need to be solid, backed by good evidence, so that Kingpins’s defence counsels have to work hard to earn their keep. The gaps in doing so, needs to be addressed. There also needs to be a greater focus on money laundering and domestic-transnational payment systems, which are used by narco networks, and these include ones championed by major mobile services providers, and the crypto spectrum.

 ‘Follow the Money’ didn’t become a rule of thumb by chance, and we need to improve our systems to monitor, prevent and disrupt such activities.

Sri Lanka also needs a well-structured and resourced long-term programme to build harm reduction, awareness and drug prevention among our school youth and young adults. Nothing we do will reduce domestic demand unless we address the demand issue itself.

We really need to begin to look at the big picture, be data driven, and play the strategic long game. Let us move away from the political short term ‘feel good’ playbook, and craft a well-developed and effective, intelligence-driven national counter-narcotics strategy that will save our youth, economy and not draw the wrath of neighbours for being part of the supply chain in their narco crisis.