BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Narcotic has become a serious problem in the modern world as they are badly affected to the human body as the adherent substance in the one hand and the consumers and dealers of the illicit drug do massive harm to the young generation and to the society in other hands. Many countries have passed legal provisions against the use of illicit drugs considering harmfulness to the human body as well as they have become a burden to society.  The example of Sri Lanka and many other countries demonstrate that consuming and dealing with narcotics would support creating a lawless society.  It seems that Sri Lanka has become a centre of distribution of various narcotics to other countries and international narcotics dealers have turned Sri Lanka to promote illicit drug business and crimes against the democratic rights of people.  Many countries have criminalized all activities associated with narcotic substances, some responsible members of Sri Lanka’s parliament (Mr. Rajitha Senaratne) launched a campaign to decriminalize narcotics in the country without knowing the harmfulness of them not only to Sri Lanka but also to other countries in the world.

The dealing with all kind of narcotic substances such as consuming and using as a business device have been banned by the world and some countries wherein an uncontrollable illicit drug problem has imposed capital punishment for consuming as well as association with the distribution. Middle Eastern and Asian countries have severe punishments for consuming and dealing with narcotics.   The president of Philippines insisted capital punishment to people associated with illicit drugs in absence of a trial and as a result of this decision, it has recorded that more than 3000 people who associated with illicit drugs were subject to capital punishment or on the spot death.  It is a topic that internationally debating, we can express views on the decision of the president of Philippines, but have no ability to revert the decision of the president as it specifically related to a serious problem of the country. I spoke to several citizens of Philippines in different countries, they agree with the decision of the president as the narcotic is an austere problem affecting to day to day life of ordinary people in the Philippines.

Australian Institute of Criminology has published an excellent paper, Polas and, Walker (1987), Capital Punishment: Trends and Issues, Crime and Criminal Justice No 3, Canberra (www.aic.gov.au) and the paper described that the term capital punishment is derived from caput, meaning head.  It originally referred to death by decapitation, but now applies generally to state-sanctioned execution. Recently, the President of Sri Lanka has publicly stated that he will sanction the execution of drug dealers who were punished by the court of justice after a fair trial. The intention of the president of Sri Lanka cannot be compared to the public execution of drug offenders by the president of Philippines because the statement of Sri Lanka’s president is a punishment within the legal framework. Therefore, the intention of the president of Sri Lanka and the practice of the president of Philippines has a vast difference and the practice of the Philippines cannot be implemented in Sri Lanka, which is a Buddhist country, and all religions in Sri Lanka cogitate killing a person for any reason is a sin, and there might be a convincing opposition to killing drug dealers on roads or public.

However, the statement of the president of Sri Lanka to sanction state execution for drug dealers has composed a sharp debate from a different point of views and some religious leaders have expressed their opinion, but such opinion may not be an authentic decision of the religious organizations. Why the president of Sri Lanka openly expresses his intention to introduce capital punishment, to attract popularity or any other purpose is a question to the public, and it might be a dubious decision or an intention. Another vital point is that did the president consult his own cabinet or the parliament before taking the decision and what was the response of them.  The president is a democratic institution, and before making decisions he should consult or get approval from the relevant institutions, and it is the good governance.  His predecessor, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa consulted the cabinet and other relevant authorities and neighbouring countries before making decisions in many instances.  Why the current president has departed from the practice of the previous president?  In a moralize society, making a statement on sanctioning state execution should not be the behaviour of a leader, is my opinion.  It is not a cause for attracting personal popularity.      

In terms of criminal law, the purpose of punishment is to prevent a person from further engage in wrongdoing.  A punishment may achieve or may not be achieved the purpose. According to the common experience, it has seen that many wrongdoers were given punishments but after the period of punishment they reengage in committing crimes, many feel that punishments have not prevented wrongdoings. Practically in Sri Lanka, illicit drug offenders were punished by the court, nevertheless, these criminals recommenced criminal behaviour while staying in jail using a secret network. How and why they are happening if there are an efficient and effective jail administration in the country. For this situation, administrators including the president of Sri Lanka are responsible. 

The deterrence theory further aims at punishing to drug offenders with jail sentence to off the opportunity to commit crimes.  According to the theory of deterrence in criminal law, people generally believe that when drug offenders deter, drug business will stop but the reality in Sri Lanka is that after the punishment, drug criminals reiterate wrongdoing same as the way or more vigorously killing the judge or personnel in law enforcement authority.  It is a real concerned experience in Sri Lanka compared to other countries. The minister responsible for jail administration has publicly expressed that officers in jail, as well as personnel in law enforcement authority, are associated with the narcotic business dealers. The president of Sri Lanka also made a statement that the barbaric attacks on churches and tourist hotels in the Easter Sunday has a relationship with international drug dealers.  These statements prove that Sri Lanka has a weak law enforcement authority and jail administration, which are not supported to control illicit drugs in the country.

The illicit drug problem in Sri Lanka is a management related problem in the country, which needs effective controls and management methods.  Many expressed views that government politicians, henchmen of them, the top brass of the government and civil society activists sophisticatedly linked to drug business and obviously, it seems that current weakness in political administration is responsible for the problem.  In order to get out of owned weakness for formulating right strategies to control drug problem, president talks on imposing capital punishment, which is rejected by the democratic world, is not a competent administration and the behaviour of responsible president elected by the votes of people. (Continuing)