Aug 25, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has taken an initiative to rehabilitate the drug addicts instead of imprisoning them and proposed establishing rehabilitation centers for the purpose.

Recognizing that drug addiction has become a huge problem in the society wasting the energetic young generation, Sri Lanka's Minister of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms has proposed the establishment of rehabilitation centers under the Bureau of Commissioner General of Rehabilitation.

According to the government statistics 78 percent of imprisonments in 2011 are drug users. The number of imprisonments due to drug addiction reached 10,568 in 2011 while 6,165 persons had been imprisoned due to the same offence for the second time and 2,073 for more than two occasions.

Bureau of Commissioner General of Rehabilitation which possesses an experienced staff of rehabilitating and reintegrating LITE ex-combatants will have the competency of rehabilitating drug addicts jointly with the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board, the Minister noted.

The cabinet has approved the Minister's proposal to set up the rehabilitation centers.