Killings that go unnoticed

Saturday 1st August, 2020

Everyone is concerned about the loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs) such as the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and SriLankan Airlines. International lending institutions and economists, both local and foreign, never miss an opportunity to recommend restructuring or divestiture as the panacea. However, none of these economic whiz kids ever express any concern about the colossal losses the economy suffers due to Sri Lankans’ tobacco addiction.

Executive Director of the Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) Pubudu Sumanasekera has pointed out that last year the state raked in Rs. 92.9 billion by way of taxes on tobacco while tobacco addiction cost the health sector as much as Rs. 214 billion. Never mind the health and social cost of the tobacco menace, even the staggering losses the economy suffers due to tobacco addiction have escaped the attention of economists. Curiously, these losses never get highlighted in budget speeches.

We are not short of smooth-tongued politicians who wax eloquent in Parliament and outside on the need to curtail SOE losses that are weighing down the economy, but never do they address the issue of tobacco addiction and its ill-effects.

Raids conducted by the police, the Excise Department and the Navy, during the past few weeks, have yielded huge consignments of narcotics including party drugs that are widely abused in nightclubs. These ‘designer drugs’ are colourless, odourless and tasteless and can be mixed with drinks. The police have also taken into custody a hawk-eagle, believed to have been used by a notorious drug czar to deliver narcotics. Public awareness of the dangers of narcotics is relatively high thanks to extensive media coverage that drug busting ops receive, and campaigns carried out by anti-narcotic outfits. But the people, especially parents who want the country rid of narcotics to ensure the safety of their children, are apparently not aware that tobacco products act as gateway drugs.

As we have discussed in a previous comment, smoking accompanies illicit drug use, and medical experts have linked nicotine to cravings for stimulants and opiates. A study, conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US, has proved that tobacco products act as gateway drugs and open the door to the use of illicit drugs. Nicotine, the NIH researchers say, makes the brain more susceptible to cocaine addiction. The NIH findings suggest that lowering smoking rates in young people might help reduce cocaine abuse. (The NIH is a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services and America’s medical research agency, making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.)

The ADIC Executive Director has revealed that more than 35,000 deaths that occur in this country annually are due to tobacco and alcohol. COVID-19, which has carried off only 11 persons so far, has been declared a national health emergency—and rightly so. The highly contagious coronavirus has to be battled with might and main. The health regulations in place must be followed and we must not lower our guard under any circumstances. Some politicians and civil society activists have even called for another polls postponement in view of the detection of some new infection clusters although the health authorities insist that the situation is under control. But nobody seems so concerned about the twin killers—tobacco and alcohol—that snuff out so many lives annually!

The ADIC has urged the candidates in the current election fray to address the issue of tobacco and alcohol addiction and the attendant problems, but none of them seem to have heeded its request. Instead of focusing on national issues, they are busy slinging mud at one another and holding political dog and pony shows. The question is whether any of these characters deserves to be elected.