'Nearly 60 pc road accidents caused by drunk driving'

Amila Prabath WANASINGHE

'Nearly two million people in this country are used to the liquor and smoking habit. If they can be weaned away from liquor and smoking it will provide a great impetus to the country's national development effort, said Parliamentarian and Advisor to the National Liquor and Drugs Prevention Operations Unit Ven Athuraliye Ratana Thera.

Addressing a meeting held at Anuradhapura to mark the setting up of a branch of the liquor and Drugs Prevention Operations Unit said the liquor and drug habit is popular among the underprivileged families in the farming and cultivation zones such as, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kurunegala and Moneragala and this was a threat to their economy and society in general. "Eventhough the country earned an annual income of nearly Rs 50 million and Rs 30 million on tobacco and excise duties, the expenditure borne by the government to treat people suffering from diseases caused due to liquor addiction and smoking far exceeded this income, the Thera said. 'Nearly 60 percent of the total number of road accidents are caused due to drunken driving and 60 percent of the cancer patients recorded have contracted the disease due to heavy smoking," Ven Ratana Thera said.

He said, Mahinda Chinthana polices has introduced measures to curtail the use of liquor and cigarettes which hindered economic and social progress. A campaign should be launched at regional level to combat the liquor and drug menace and the smoking habit.