News:1973-09-18/Report/us-embassy-colombo-cable-reports-150-tons-annual-ganja-production-details-nascent-narcotics-enforcement

NewsReport18 September 1973

US Embassy Colombo cable reports 150 tons annual ganja production, details nascent narcotics enforcement

A confidential US Embassy Colombo telegram (No. 2330, Priority) to the State Department set out a narcotics control action plan for Sri Lanka. The telegram said ganja production was widespread and "certainly exceeds requirements for local usage, including ayurvedic medicine", and gave 150 tons of illicit ganja production a year as a "reasonable estimate". A seizure of processed hashish oil in June had raised "strong suspicion that ganja and ganja products are being exported", though the embassy had no specific intelligence of systematic re-export. Opium entering from India across the Palk Straits was estimated at 5–15 tons annually. Major seizures included 271 four-gallon tins of hashish oil near Ratnapura in June and 14 pounds of opium near Velvettiturai in August. The cable reported that the Police Narcotics Division, set up in April 1973, had a "small but enthusiastic staff" but had not received sufficient budgetary and administrative support. The National Narcotics Advisory Board was created on 13 September 1973, chaired by the Deputy Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs. Colombo Plan drug abuse advisor Pio Abarro (Philippine attorney) had arrived in August, recommending strengthened anti-narcotics laws as the first priority. US assistance included DEA training literature, narcotics identification kits, and proposed equipment totalling $6,000–10,000. The embassy assessed: "Having other urgent problems, GSL has been willing to live with narcotics problem in Sri Lanka as it has been perceived, that is, large amount of traditional usage of ganja, small local consumption of opium, and unknown quantity of opium trans-shipped through Sri Lanka into international traffic."

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PlaceSri Lanka

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1973-09-18 Report US Embassy Colombo cable reports 150 tons annual ganja production, details nascent narcotics enforcement A confidential US Embassy Colombo telegram (No. 2330, Priority) to the State Department set out a narcotics control action plan for Sri Lanka. The telegram said ganja production was widespread and "certainly exceeds requirements for local usage, including ayurvedic medicine", and gave 150 tons of illicit ganja production a year as a "reasonable estimate". A seizure of processed hashish oil in June had raised "strong suspicion that ganja and ganja products are being exported", though the embassy had no specific intelligence of systematic re-export. Opium entering from India across the Palk Straits was estimated at 5–15 tons annually. Major seizures included 271 four-gallon tins of hashish oil near Ratnapura in June and 14 pounds of opium near Velvettiturai in August. The cable reported that the Police Narcotics Division, set up in April 1973, had a "small but enthusiastic staff" but had not received sufficient budgetary and administrative support. The National Narcotics Advisory Board was created on 13 September 1973, chaired by the Deputy Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs. Colombo Plan drug abuse advisor Pio Abarro (Philippine attorney) had arrived in August, recommending strengthened anti-narcotics laws as the first priority. US assistance included DEA training literature, narcotics identification kits, and proposed equipment totalling $6,000–10,000. The embassy assessed: "Having other urgent problems, GSL has been willing to live with narcotics problem in Sri Lanka as it has been perceived, that is, large amount of traditional usage of ganja, small local consumption of opium, and unknown quantity of opium trans-shipped through Sri Lanka into international traffic." https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve08/d62 Sri Lanka