Legalizing ganja cultivation will be a money-maker for politicians: JVP

Legalizing Ganja cultivation for export in Sri Lanka, if sanctioned by Parliament, would soon turn into a business owned by the MPs and Ministers, says the JVP.Former JVP MP and member of his party-led NPP’s Economic Council, Sunil Handunnetti on Thursday said: “See the number of bar license owners in the country. The majority of them and liquor producing license holders are in Parliament. If Ganja cultivation is legalized, then that business too would be in the hands of MPs and Ministers.”

Addressing an NPP Economic Council seminar at the Sri Lanka Foundation in Colombo, Handunnetti said that legalizing ganja would drive the final nail into the coffin of the fight against narcotics.

“Already parents of leading schools have to wait outside the schools at closing time to get their adolescent children home because they are vulnerable to drugs. The parents are worried about the safety of their children from illicit drugs as heroin and ICE use among teens have shot up dramatically in recent months. It is in this context the proposal to promote Triloka Wijayapatra comes,” Handunnetti said.

“Politicians will run the Triloka Wijayapatra business, as in the present case of two main party politicians having the highest number of bar permits,” Handunnetti said.NPP Economic Council members Prof Janak Kumarasinghe and Prof Anil Jayantha Fernando addressed the seminar.