President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday agreed to lead a committee that would be established on a priority basis to deal with the growing narcotics problem, the presidential secretariat said.

During talks special attention was paid to the growing problem, the sources said, adding that they decided to explore the possibility of setting up an authority under an act of parliament to deal with this problem. It was also agreed that the president, the premier and senior representatives of the relevant agencies would meet at least once a month to review the situation, the sources said.