The incidence of young people falling victim to drug abuse is on the rise and the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) has recorded a total of 29,796 drug-related arrests in 2010 and 40 per cent of those arrested were in their 20s, an official said.

The NDDCB 'Handbook of Drug Abuse Information of 2011' was released yesterday. The male to female ratio of the arrests was 97:1 with 32 per cent were related to heroin while 68 per cent to cannabis. Fifty two per cent of these arrests were reported from Western Province, 13 per cent from the Southern province and seven per cent from the Sabaragamuwa province while 38 per cent of the arrests were from the Colombo district, ten per cent in the Gampaha district and six per cent in the Galle district.

The arrests in 2010 were 286 for every 100,000 while drug-related arrests of those above 14 years were 385 for every 100,000. Eighty six per cent of those arrested were Sinhalese, the report said. Of the drug related arrests, majority was for cannabis; it stood at 20,259 in 2010.The highest number of cannabis cases of 26 per cent was reported from Colombo district followed by Gampaha with nine per cent and Hambantota eight per cent.

The report said cannabis-related arrests rapidly increased during 2006 -- 2007. It was 34,728 in 2006 and 33,848 in 2007. But cannabis related arrests had decreased in 2008 -- 2009.

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka