Editorial - Morals, realities and legal humbug

Sri Lanka's Parliament this week approved the creation of a National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol - aimed at controlling the sale and consumption of these twin evils.

This was as a result of MPs of the Jathika Hela Urumaya canvassing hard for this piece of legislation; while the State rested its arguments on the fact that the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) promoted such controls in the best interest of global health standards.

Arguments had also been made about the Health Bill - or relating the cost of curing people who become victims of tobacco and alcohol related illnesses - to both individuals and the Nation's purse. Counter-arguments had been made about the revenue generated from taxes for the State's coffers - the Tobacco tax earned the State Rs. 18 billion for the first six months of last year.

Interwoven with these arguments had been the fact that modern States are also moving in the direction of restricting smoking in public places to protect persons from exposure to tobacco smoke, or in everyday parlance, 'passive smoking' - or second-hand smoke; and restricting the hours public taverns could keep open - linking increased domestic violence and street-crime to increased alcoholism.

The new law has not made smoking or drinking alcohol (except for those under the age of 21) unlawful. It only seeks to regulate its sale and consumption a little more rigidly than it exists now.

The new law also restricts the promotion (advertising) of tobacco and alcohol products, but the salutary aspects of the new restrictions probably end there in the face of the 'ground realities'.

The law prohibits the sale and promotion of these twin evils within 100 metres of any premises frequented mainly by those under 21. However, this is a joke as there is already a legal prohibition regarding the sale of liquor within 200 metres of a school or a religious place of worship. But there is no law that says that you cannot have a casino that serves free liquor and cigarettes. Right opposite where successive Presidents of recent times have lived and where the incumbent lives, there is a casino in full swing next to a primary school. Why bring new laws when you cannot implement what you already have?

There are other concerns as well. Increasing number of adults and children suffering from asthma and other respiratory-related illnesses have been placed at the door of 'passive smoke' from vehicle exhaust fumes and garbage fumes and industrial pollution as cigarette-smoke. But no appreciable action has been taken on any of these fronts. Over 50 per cent of the country's alcohol consumption is from kasippu, the illicit local brew - and part of the legal local arrack is adulterated to the core - but politicians - from all parties - look the other way when it's time to control these industries because of the backhanders they get at election time from their promoters.

The punishment for every violation of the law is that the violator would be taken to a court of law and fined or sent to jail. And it is the Police that must do this - a Police that is acknowledged - by none other than the Chief Justice - as being most corrupt and useless.

The laws have not taken into account the knock-on effect that tobacco and alcohol restrictions would bring about on one of the country's prime foreign exchange earners - tourism. It is good that no exemptions were made for "Foreigners Only" making natives second-class citizens in their own countries but stringent Excise laws may need to be relaxed so that visitors to this country need not be forced to go to bed long before midnight.

But there is an even more fundamental problem. There is no way that prohibition can succeed by legislation -because the natural reaction to a ban is to break it. History is replete with these cases, the most famous being the Prohibition in America in the 1930s and the rise of bootlegging and criminal gangs. In Europe, mafia-style gangs have become multi-millionaires because of these restrictions

Today's narcotics trade in Sri Lanka - and the hand-in-glove involvement of sections of the Police in this trade is only an eye-opener to what abuses can occur when there are laws. Restrictions in tobacco and alcohol will likely spur youth to turn to narcotics - as is the case in many western societies.

In the scheme of things, while the State has an onus to promote good health standards and good moral conduct, there is a lot of double-standards and humbug about some of these very same questions. In contrast, cleansing public life and the conduct of public figures might be the best way to set standards that are actually respected by the people.