President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday vowed that his government will take every step possible to make Sri Lanka a drug and tobacco free country by 2015.

Delivering the keynote address at the inauguration of the propaganda campaign launched by the National Anti Tobacco Authority (NATA) at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday, President Rajapaksa said the war against drugs, alcohol and tobacco would be won in the same manner the menace of terrorism was eradicated from the shores of Sri Lanka.

“In 2005 we pledged to create a country free of drugs, alcohol and tobacco under the ‘Mathata Thitha’ programme. We gave prominence to that objective even more than we did our target to achieve durable peace with dignity. The country is still in a jubilant mood after the great victory against the LTTE’s terrorism that plagued the country for 30 years. We have achieved this victory after 21/2 years. The daunting task we have before us now is to win the fight against drugs, alcohol and tobacco,” he emphasized.

Women and children are the ones that have suffered most from the long fight against terrorism and it is they who will continue to suffer from the menace of drugs and alcohol in the future. The creation of a nation free of tobacco, drugs and alcohol means we are rescuing millions of women and children from a bleak future, he stressed.

The government will not hesitate to bring in legislation to rid the country of drugs and alcohol. The laws that have already been introduced to control tobacco use have paid dividends. Despite the loss of income to the Treasury, the government will bring more legal provisions to see an end to this menace, President Rajapaksa said.

It is the responsibility of the law enforcement authorities to remove the root causes that lead to the spread of drugs and alcoholism.

They must apprehend not those who go to jail on behalf of the king pins producing illicit liquor, but the big man himself, he added. The responsibility to save the country from the menace of drugs and alcoholism lies on not only the government but other social and religious agencies as well, President Rajapaksa noted.

Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva said Sri Lanka was in the forefront of the fight against drugs and alcohol in the region. We were the first country in South Asia and fourth in the world that ratified the WHO covenant to control drugs and drug trafficking.