Parliament passed two amendments on 22 October that let magistrates destroy seized drugs before trial after a sample is kept and require the Government Analyst to report within two months. The other bill raised the quantity that sends drug suspects to the Court of Appeal for bail from 10 grams to 100 grams, but kept that route for offences punishable by death or life imprisonment; cannabis, which carries at most 15 years, stays under the High Court’s exceptional-circumstances bail rule. The bills were passed with amendments but had not been certified when this was written.[1][2][3][4]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Sri Lanka here.
References
- The Sunday Times — Anti-narcotics bills passed as Opposition questions anti-drug strategy (25 October 2026)Two bills passed 22 October; pre-trial destruction after sampling; two-month analyst reports; bail below 100 grams; prison population 41,993 on 1 July and 36,925 on 30 September.
- Parliament of Sri Lanka — Business of the House for 22 October 2026Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bills O 8/2026 and O 11/2026 passed with amendments.
- Sri Lanka — Bill O 8/2026 to amend the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (PDF)Clause 2; section 77A; destruction after retaining a sample; cannabis sample; two-month Government Analyst report.
- Sri Lanka — Bill O 11/2026 to amend the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (PDF)Clauses 2–5; section 54A; section 83 bail; 100 grams and death or life imprisonment; Cannabis sativa in Group B.
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.