ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka has arrested a 35-year-old woman in Shanthipuran, Mannar in the North West of the island with 35 kilograms of Kerala Cannabis on June 18, police said.
The Police Special Task Force has arrested the woman following a tip received by Mannar police.
Cannabis, known as ganja in Sri Lanka was banned by British colonial rulers.
The drug was widely used in South Asia for medicine and also as a food additive but the ban came after indentured labourers were taken to plantations in Mauritius and the Caribbean where colonial administration was unfamiliar with the practice.
British Guiana banned cannabis in 1861 and Ceylon in 1867.
Many Western nations banned cannabis in the 20th century.
Some Caribbean is decriminalizing cannabis and also conducting marijuana tourism.
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