War on drugs, alcohol

The Mathata Thitha program has received a tremendous boost with a marked drop reported in the use of alcohol and tobacco in the country. According to our main story yesterday, smoking among the student population had dropped from five percent in 1997 to 0.9 percent while among adults the decline has been more marked - 13 percent to five percent.

Addressing a press briefing Chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Prof. Carlo Fonseka promised further steps to force compliance with the NATA Act. Such a move no doubt is called for since today though alcohol and tobacco advertisements are banned there are subtle methods used to promote these products to captivate the young.

The Professor should be commended for his untiring efforts to wean the younger generation from the evils of tobacco and alcohol - especially the banning of television scenes showing the use of tobacco and alcohol, despite the many protests and barbs thrown at him from several quarters. Such scenes no doubt could influence young and impressionable minds depicted as they are with heroism and machoism.

Professor Fonseka who is steeped in matters of the human mind and psychology, going by his extensive writings to the press no doubt knew what he was doing, whether it is due to this or otherwise, today, one hardly sees schoolboys in their whites puffing way at bus stands or other nooks and corners like in the old days when drawing on a fag was considered to be the 'in' thing and a symbol of maturity and adulthood which sets the adrenalin flowing in the young.

Whether it is by accident or design, we also see the premier cigarette company in the country diversifying its business to insurance and maintaining greenhouse nurseries which although denying a substantial portion of revenue to the State as Excise Tax has paid off in other ways, particularly in protecting the country's younger generation from the evils of tobacco.

It will also be interesting to see the corresponding drop in the treatment for alcohol and tobacco related diseases which no doubt is going to save a massive chunk off the national health budget.

The news of the drastic decline in the use of tobacco and alcohol no doubt would have been received with great delight by President Mahinda Rajapaksa who took upon the crusade with great zeal and passion. Like the Head of the NATA said the President was the first national leader to include anti- alcohol, anti- tobacco and anti-drug policies as a high national priority.

In fact the Mathata Thitha policy comes in the first chapter of the Mahinda Chintana policy manifesto with terrorism relegated to eighth. This itself is an index of the priority attached to the issue by the President.

Now that the war is over, one can expect the President to redouble efforts to save the country from another canker as dangerous as terrorism - that of liquor and drug addiction in our midst.

For although the figures are encouraging there is still a lot to be done to rid the country of drug and alcohol abuse. Sociologists have attributed poverty as the cause of liquor addiction and this to a degree is confirmed by the high use of illicit liquor in the estate sector.

Now that the war is over, and the economy once again about to take off, it is hoped that the reasons for liquor and drug addiction too would be gradually eliminated, when the people become free from want. For, whatever fruits the country has derived as a result of defeating terrorism would be negated if its future is blighted with a sizable segment of the population falling prey to drugs and alcohol. It would indeed be a wasted effort of our Security Forces to see the country liberated on the one hand see it going down the precipe on the other by an unproductive and burdensome generation hooked on vice. This the President is all too aware of. Hence his all out war against alcohol and drug abuse.

All patriotic citizens should therefore lend their fullest backing to eradicate this menace that is threatening the foundation of our society. Religious leaders, community leaders and schools should take the lead in this exercise.

Politicians too should not interfere with the current endeavours to rid the country of vice. The law enforcement should take it upon itself to come down hard on those who work towards negating the efforts of the Mathata Thitha program. The dragnet should be laid far and wide to net in all those involved in allowing drugs and illicit liquor trade to flourish.