As enacted

Contents

Act of Parliament · As enacted

Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 2026

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged

s 1Short title

This Act may be cited as the Poisons, Opium and

Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, No. 7 of 2026.

s 2Insertion of new section 54AA in Chapter 218

The following new section is hereby inserted immediately after section 54A of the Poisons, Opium and

Dangerous Drugs Ordinance (Chapter 218) (hereinafter referred to as the “principal enactment”) and shall have effect as section 54AA of that Ordinance:-

54AA. (1) Any person who, whether he is a citizen of Sri Lanka or not, on the high seas, while on board a ship registered in Sri Lanka or a stateless ship, manufactures any of the following dangerous drugs, namely heroin, cocaine, morphine or opium, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction by the High

Court, be liable to a sentence of death or life imprisonment.

(2)

Any person who, whether he is a citzen of Sri Lanka or not,-

(a)

on the high seas, while on board a ship registered in Sri Lanka or a stateless ship; and

(b)

except as permitted by, or otherwise than in accordance with

“Prohibition against manufacturing, possession or trafficking of dangerous drugs on high seas.

the provisions of this Chapter or a licence of the Director, possesses or traffics any dangerous drug set out in Part III of the Third Schedule, in excess of the amount set out in Column II of Part

III of the said Schedule, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction by the High

Court, be liable to the penalty set out in the corresponding entry in Column III of Part III of the said Schedule.

(3)

Any stateless ship engaged in the commission of an offence referred to in subsection (1) shall be subject to forfeiture and the provisions of section 79 shall mutatis mutandis apply in relation to such ship.

(4)

For the purposes of this section-

“high seas” means all waters beyond the territorial waters of Sri Lanka or of any other State, without prejudice to the legel status of the exclusive economic zone under international law;

“manufacture” shall have the same meaning as in subsection (3) of section 54A;

“stateless ship” means any vessel that is not registered under the laws of any State or does not possess a flag;

“traffick” shall have the same meaning as in subsection (3) of section 54A.”.

s 3Amendment of section 54B of the principal enactment

Section 54B of the principal enactment is herby amended by the substitution for the words and figures “section 54A,”, of the words and figures “sections 54A and 54AA,”.

s 4Amendment of section 78 of the principal enactment

Section 78 of the principal enactment is hereby amended in subsection (5) of that section by the substitution for the words and figures “other than a person guilty of an offence under section 54A,”, of the words and figures “other than a person guilty of an offence under sections 54A and 54AA,”.

s 5Amendment of section 83 of the principal enactment

Section 83 of the principal enactment is hereby amended as follows:-

(1)

in subsection (1) of that section by the substitution for the words and figures “sections 54A and 54B”, of the words and figures “sections 54A, 54AA and 54B”;

(2)

in subsection (2) of that section by the substitution for the words and figures

“subsection (1) of section 54A and section 54B”, of the words and figures “subsection (1) of sections 54A, subsections (1) and (2) of section 54AA and section 54B”; and

(3)

in the marginal note to that section by the substitution for the words and figures “sections 54A and 54B”, of the words “sections 54A, 54AA and 54B”.

s 6Amendment of section 84 of the principal enactment

Section 84 of the principal enactment is hereby amended by the substitution for the words and figures “subsection (1)

of section 54A and section 54B”, of the words and figures

“subsection (1) of section 54A, subsections (1) and (2) of section 54AA and section 54B”.

s 7Amendment of section 85 of the principal enactment

Section 85 of the principal enactment is hereby amended by the substitution for the words and figures “subsection (1)

of section 54A and section 54B”, of the words and figures

“subsection (1) of section 54A, subsections (1) and (2) of section 54AA and section 54B”.

s 8Amendment of section 86 of the principal enactment

Section 86 of the principal enactment is hereby amended as follows:-

(1)

in subsection (1) of that section by the substitution for the words and figures “section 54 or paragraphs (b), (c) or (d) of subsection (1)

of section 54A”, of the words and figures “section 54, paragraphs (b), (c) or (d) of subsection (1) of section 54A or subsection (2) of section 54AA”;

and

(2)

in subsection (3) of that section by the substitution for the words and figures “section 54 or subsection (1) of section 54A,”, of the words and figures “section 54, subsection (1) of section 54A or subsection (2) of section 54AA,”.

s 9Amendment of section 87 of the principal enactment

Section 87 of the principal enactment is hereby amended by the substitution for the words and figures

“section 52, section 54, paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of subsection (1) of section 54A and section 54B”, of the words and figures “section 52, section 54, paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of subsection (1) of section 54A, subsection (2) of section 54AA and section 54B”.

s 10Sinhala text to prevail in case of inconsistency

In the event of any inconsistency between the Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.