Second opinion

Alcohol consumption not very high? Aha!

The government has announced a total ban on tobacco and alcohol advertising from next year, following the recommendation of a Task Force that studied the impact of promoting the use of these substances.

The response from the business community to this decision has been astounding: they have lodged vehement protests and argued that they were not consulted in making the decision. In fact, there was some pressure on the government to revoke the decision but, to the government's credit it has refused to do so.

Yes, the ban on all forms of advertising will hurt the advertising sector for the tobacco and alcohol industries are large scale advertisers. And they also sponsor many sporting and cultural events which will also feel the pinch.

But no one can deny that both tobacco and alcohol are serious health hazards to our younger generation. Tobacco is universally associated with lung cancer and Sri Lanka is no major exception - this disease is a predominant cancer among men in the country and smoking is a risk factor high on the list.

Alcohol wreaks havoc, perhaps even more. Every medical ward in government hospitals in the country is crammed with a significant number of alcoholics in various stages of disease, from bleeding stomach ulcers to full blown cirrhosis.

Even more invisible is the disruption in our social fabric. For each alcoholic there will always be a broken home, a distraught spouse and helpless children. No amount of government spending can compensate for such domestic calamities.

It is also well recognised that alcohol begets crime. Most criminals are also addicted to alcohol and many crimes (not to mention traffic accidents) occur under the influence of alcohol.

The effect of all this is that whatever the government earns from the alcohol and tobacco industries by way of taxes, it spends on healthcare by attempting feebly to alleviate the suffering of those stricken by diseases caused by cigarettes and liquor.

The social destruction caused meanwhile goes largely unnoticed and unabated as a handful of organisations - like the Anti Drug Information Centre (ADIC) and Mel Medura - try their best to reform a minute percentage of addicts, much like taking away a drop from an ocean!

And, unruffled by all this, the business sector argues that Sri Lanka's per capita consumption of liquor is not very high! As some say, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics, because this "not very high" per capita consumption includes only legal sales and not the ever-so-popular and ever-so-available 'Kasippu' - by far the type of alcohol mostly abused.

After all this agitation in the tobacco and alcohol industries in particular and in the business sector in general one would think the government was imposing a total ban on cigarettes and alcohol!

Of course not. The ban is only on advertising in any form. The idea is to erase the overt and covert messages conveyed to the public, portraying alcohol and tobacco as socially acceptable and glamorous, thereby hoping that in the long term, these habits will wane.

That should certainly be done but old habits die hard. So that may not be enough. For these substances do bring out the beast in you, as they say in those advertisements!

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