Beyond Borders

Magic mushrooms, also known as Psilocybin, are a type of psychedelic drug that contains a natural psychoactive and hallucinogenic compound. They are categorized as serotonergic hallucinogens, which change an individual's perception and mood by affecting cognitive processes. Magic mushrooms are classified by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as a Schedule I drug, which means they have a high potential for abuse, have no currently accepted medical treatment in the US, and have a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. Some common names for magic mushrooms include Shrooms, Mushies, Blue Meanies, Golden Tops, Liberty Caps, Philosopher's Stones, Liberties, Amani, and Agaric. Magic mushrooms are usually prepared by drying, although they can also be eaten freshly picked or mixed with food or drink. They can even be smoked, mixed with cannabis or tobacco. They can also be found in dried capsules or liquid. When psilocybin is taken, it is converted in th...

A number of changes can be found in the criminal justice system during the selected period due to the increment of crime. When considering Police, after the independence of Sri Lanka, Richard Aluvihare became the IG as the first Sri Lankan IG in 6th January 1947. He introduced several innovative measures to embrace the welfare of the men, investigation, prevention and detection of crime, crime prevention societies, rural volunteers, police kennels, public relations, new methods of training and improvement of conditions of service. In 1946, the Police Commission was appointed to look into the reorganization of the police service. From 1952, the recruitment of women police officers to the police force began. Traffic police headquarters was established in 1953 to enforce traffic laws, prevent violation of traffic regulation as well as to investigate accidents. In 1966, John Attygalle became the Inspector General of Police and established the Police Public Relations Bureau. In 1956, it was...

Above figures are collected from a research paper written by Senior Lecturer of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka,    E.M. Samantha Ekanayake, named “Structural Transformation of Society and Development of Criminality: A Case Study from of Sri Lanka”. It displays that in 1953 crimes in the island has decreased up to 18,000, but during the time of 1960 to 1975, crime rate has rapidly increased by (300%).  It could be identified that emergency law had been enforced during 1948 to 1970 for five times. August, 1953 – political violence – 21 individuals were killed  May 22, 1958 – political violence – 04 – Vavuniya March 13, 1959 September 26, 1959  April 14, 1961 – Ethnic–Tamils civil disobedience campaign – arrested 30 military observers – northern and eastern  provinces Killings, displacements and arresting over political violence were at its rise. That might be the reason for the increment of homicide as graphed in the second figure during that period. Relate...

Educational policies of Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike were not liked by Christian community. Education and employment opportunities for many Tamil youth were limited after the enactment of Sinhala Only Act. Sirimavo Bandaranaike tried to reduce the invasion of Christian missions over Sri Lankan education system. She nationalized most of the private schools and stopped state subsidies to remaining private schools. College of Advanced Technology in Katubedda in 1956, University of Vidyodaya in 1958, University of Vidyalankara in 1959, and the Colombo campus of the University of Ceylon in 1967 were established to expand the education system. By the mid 0f 1960s, examinations were conducted in Sinhala and Tamil languages to expand the admissions for universities, but with the problem of lack of funds, by the late 1960s, admissions were decreased. Sinhalese were majorly defeated from this problem. This defeat led to 1971 JVP riots, as a result of frustration. Until two decades aft...

There emerged so many contributory factors for the rise of LTTE as Tamils were highly discriminated. During 1948 – 1949, “Anti Tamil Legislation” was passed by the newly appointed government. Indian Tamil lost their citizenship in Sri Lanka with the enactment of Ceylon Citizenship Act. In 1956, Tamil was established as the second language while Sinhala was established as the official language. With the enactment of Sinhala Only Act, many Burghers went abroad, because they felt discrimination. There arose a communication issue between Sinhala and Tamils, as they had communicated in English up to then.  In 1957, with the objective of providing more rights to Tamil people, Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike signed an agreement with Chelvanayakam, the leader of Tamil Arasu Katchi Party. However, P. G. Ponnambalam, and J. R. Jayawardene, a former UNP member, opposed to this agreement. J. R. Jayawardene also organized a march from Kandy to express his objection. Sinhala community op...

In 1954, a government sponsored Buddha Jayanthi Festival was organized. Local culture which was covered by religion, language as well as arts was neglected continuously. This led to a division of ruled from ruling elite. Traditionalist and revivalist movements were started to upgrade local value. With the emergence of economic crisis during the period of 1960 – 1965, which Sirimavo Bandaranaike governed as the Prime Minister, people had not have money to buy enough clothes. This resulted in Mini dress fashion. People had to stay in cues to buy bread and other important things. There could found a number of changes in cinema, literature as well as sports. In 1956, first artistic stage drama, “Maname” was published. Ranmuthu Duwa film or Island of Treasures in 1962 marked a significant milestone in Sri Lankan cinema by transforming cinema from black and white to color. Rekava (Line of destiny) in 1956, Gamperaliya (The changing village) in 1964, Golu Hadawatha (Cold Heart) in 1968 and Ni...

Earlier in 1948, Tea, Coconut and Rubber, the three main exports products in Sri Lanka, were highly sold in world trade market, providing 90% foreign exchange earnings. Unfortunately, several economic problems emerged. Population increased. Price of Ceylon’s rubber and Tea decreased. Price of imported food increased. As there was an expanded education system which produced a large number of educated people, scarcity of vacancies in job market occurred and unemployment increased. In order to achieve the objectives of Marxist program as well as to stop the disinvestment by the owning companies, plantations were nationalized in 1956. In 1957, the Cultivated Lands Act, a concept of Philip Gunawardena, was passed. Many farmers in Sri Lanka, who were subsistence farmers, started to enjoy their rights in large scale. Continuing the Sinhalese nationalism program similar to his deceased fiancé, Sirimavo Bandaranaike tried to protect the local industry, and also to develop state sector. Unfortun...