Poverty and Drug usage; Comparative analysis of poverty and Drug usage

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.