Join hands to eliminate drug menace - President

As much as we defeated terrorism and made it part of history let us all join hands to overcome the next challenge of ushering in country's development by eliminating the drug menace which has been a great stumbling block towards development and progress, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a message to mark International Anti-Narcotics Day.

The message said: "It is with great interest and responsibility that I issue this message to mark International Anti-Narcotics Day.

You are aware that our country underwent untold suffering on account of terrorism for nearly three decades. But we were able to wipe out terrorism and bequeath a free, sovereign and united country to our child generation. Now terrorism has become a part of history. But we are confronted with another challenge today. That challenge is to quickly usher in country's development which was neglected due to our pre-occupation with measures to counter terrorism. Overcoming that challenge has become a problem due to the damage caused by the drug menace.

As a proud nation which defeated terrorism the next challenge before us is to defeat the drug menace. The youth generation which can contribute time and energy towards the country's development has become inactive due to the drug menace with some of them getting imprisoned.

This is a great problem confronting the country's development effort. A large sum of money which can be utilised for development is drained out of the country due to drugs.

It has been established that many families suffering from poverty were spending large sums of money on drugs. The number of drug related deaths per year is also in the increase.

The country is losing its citizens and children, their parents on account of this. A large slice of funds allocated to the Ministry of Health has to be spent on the treatment of drug addicts.

Without merely allocating a single day we should join hands as the Sri Lankan nation work everyday towards totally eliminating the drug menace. We are prepared to come forward and take bold steps needed in this direction. I have no doubt that the people will join hands with us and be a source of strength in this endeavour.

As much as we dedicated ourselves to bestow a united country to our child generation, I trust that everyone will join hands to put a fullstop to liquor and drugs and usher in a free country with a healthy society," the message said.