Sri Lanka's response to prescribed drug misuse: is it enough?

Abstract

A wide range of medications are being misused by people the world over and Sri Lanka is no exception. Reasons for this misuse are manyfold. Regulatory bodies, prescribers, dispensers, as well as the general public, have significant roles to play in mitigating the misuse of prescribed medications and their harmful consequences.

Practising psychiatry in Sri Lanka: challenges and opportunities

“…Finally, the authors draw our attention to the problem of drug misuse in Sri Lanka, with a focus on the ready availability of prescription drugs that are effectively unregulated. 5 As we know from the epidemic of misuse of drugs such as OxyContin in the USA and Europe, even if there are controls on who has a license to prescribe, these can easily be undermined. The concerns expressed here about the ready availability of mind-altering legal medications are not confined to Sri Lanka.…”