Following a proposal made by the President Maithripala Sirisena to declare July 9 to August 8 as the ‘National drug prevention month’, a programme for gradually reducing the use of cigarettes, alcohol and illicit alcohol will be implemented by the Presidential Task force on Drug Prevention, cabinet spokesperson Dr. Rajitha Senarathna said. Speaking at the weekly cabinet brief today he said surveys have revealed that 1/3 of the income of low income receiving families in the country is expended for cigarettes and liqueur. Dr Senarathana, who himself is the Health minister said that the government is expending 22 percentage of the total allocations for the free health service on treatments for diseased persons due to these reasons.
The final rites of veteran broadcaster, writer, and lyricist Nirmala de Alwis will be held today at Peradeniya.
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