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Sri Lanka Navy Journal 44

encompasses not only traditional threats, such as organized crime and terrorism,
but also threats to economic stability, public health, and impact towards the way
of life. This was further proven by an Indian academician Pareli(2008) listing a
few major components of national security such as food security, demographic
security, geostrategic security, military security, economic security, disaster
security, resource security, health security, cyber security and ethnic security.
Therefore, it is imperative to understand the impact of drug related issues on
these elements to identify the real threat to national security of the country. As
per the records available in the National Dangerous Drug Control Board (NDDCB,
2017), 1762 crime incidents were reported after illicit drug use and those were
related to grave and minor crimes. In addition, drug rehabilitation programs
incur a financial loss of Rs. 77,182.39 per month for a single drug patient which
creates a huge impact on the economy of the country (Dorabawila, 2015).

It is usually argued that some of the results of’ the production, trafficking
and consumption of narcotic drugs are to “undermine national institutions,
weaken government authorities, encourage corruption and contribute to
political instability” (Mansfield and Whetton, 1996). While accepting this view,
it can be argued that the reverse can also be true. That is, corruption, political
instability and a weakened state can be a cause for production, trafficking and
consumption of narcotic drugs as well. Even the experiences of Afghanistan and
Myanmar would support this view. Thus, it is clear that this is a vicious circle.
Maritime Security Concerns in Sri Lanka

The bitter lessons learnt by Sri Lankans from its irregular warfare over three
decades certainly opened the forum to think differently to face future challenges.
As an island nation largely depending on the sea, the importance of maritime
security towards achieving its national objectives cannot be easily ruled out.
Ensuring maritime security by preventing unlawful elements use our oceans in
the present scenario will have a significant influence on the future generation
too.

Bueger (2015) states that maritime security is strongly related to four
concepts; national security, marine environment, economic development and
human security which are interconnected with each other like a matrix. Most
importantly, he has pointed out that ‘Drug trafficking’ has close relationships
with human security and economic development.
A. Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA)

Maritime domain awareness is predominantly a security matter which
encompasses all maritime related activities. Scholars have defined it in many
ways and most commonly it is defined as ‘effective understanding of anything
related to the maritime domain that could influence the safety, security, economy
and environment’. Further, it describes that the purpose of MDA is to facilitate