| News | |
Monday 01, June 1998 |
Sri Lankans spend over Rs. 50 million a day on smoking and most of them are from poor families whose monthly income is less than Rs. 2,000.
This was disclosed at a press conference held at the Samurdhi, Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry last week in connection with the flag day to raise funds for the Social Development Fund (SDF) and to mark the 'No Smoking Day'.
Minister S. B. Dissanayake told journalists that many poverty alleviation schemes launched in the past failed as designers of those programs did not realise the central cause of the problem.
They suggested measures to provide temporary relief to the poor but abject poverty continued from generation to generation as the root cause was not removed, the minister said.
The PA government has identified the cause of poverty first. "We have realised that evil habits of members of poor families like heavy smoking, consumption of liquor and addiction to drugs are major causes of abject poverty. Remedial measures are being taken to eradicate such evils before helping these families to free themselves from poverty", he said.
Therefore, under the PA's poverty alleviation and rural development program - the Samurdhi Movement - the Sri Lanka Samurdhi Authority (SLSA) launched programs intermittently to rescue addicted people from these evils and rehabilitate them before providing them with development grants, Mr. Dissanayake said.
"Offering financial aid to families of drug addicts or alcoholics is futile as financial assistance given to them is invariably wasted on drugs, tobacco or alcohol," the minister said.
Mr. Dissanayake said that the SLSA launched the SDF in a bid to eradicate evils such as smoking, drug abuse and alcoholism from society and a flag day will be held annually to raise funds for this program.
Most smokers, alcoholics and drug addicts are from the rural, estate and urban poor. The government has allocated only Rs. 8,000 million for Samurdhi benefits for the year whereas Rs. 18,250 million is spent on smoking by our people annually. This is good testimony that people spend more money on smoking than on development, he said.
Over 12,000 Sri Lankans die every year due to smoking-allied diseases and the majority of them belong to the country's workforce. This is a big loss of manpower in the way of national development.
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga appointed a Task Force to prepare a national policy on alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Its recommendations will be implemented in stages, the minister told the media.
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