by Sri Lanka Medical Association
The Excise Department seems to have taken strong exception to the decision to ban the
sale of alcohol. It has tried to justify re-opening alcohol sales points, as reported in an
article entitled “Government losing estimated Rs.15bn monthly tax revenue due to
alcohol ban”
The Excise Department does not generate money. The Excise tax is a tax collected from
the people. It is people’s money. When people cannot spend money on alcohol they will
spend it on more essential and useful things such as food, especially in the current
situation.
This is not a hard concept to grasp, even by those who are less perceptive. If this Department cannot grasp this, paints a very poor picture of the Department and its staff as well as the Ministry of Finance.
What people of Sri Lanka need now is good nutrition and protection from disease, not
spurious alcohol industry friendly arguments from a government agency. The people of this country do not deserve the injuries, accidents, child abuse, domestic violence,
depression, suicides, alcohol related strokes, heart attacks, cancers and cirrhosis right
now.
The health sector also does not need an explosion of patients with alcohol related
accidents and medical conditions right now.
The Police will be thankful for not having to deal with alcohol related incidents and accidents during the coming weeks.
The article states that “illicit liquor trade gaining ground with home breweries popping
up across the country”. This Department seems to have conveniently forgotten that one of its main functions is to eliminate illicit alcohol production.
If they have indeed forgotten, they should read own Act carefully again and understand it. Are they admitting in public that they are not equal to the task? Or are they turning a blind eye to such production, in order to use it as an excuse to open up liquor stores throughout the country, which will only benefit the alcohol trade?
The myth of “revenue generation” from alcohol is propagated by the alcohol industry to obtain profits over the dead bodies of its customers. Millions die and fall sick from alcohol use around the world.
A study conducted by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization has shown that the economic costs of alcohol use in Sri Lanka far outweighs the “revenue” generated. Therefore it will be actually profitable to the government keep alcohol selling points closed than keeping them open.
However, the Department now seems to be more concerned about the alcohol trade profiting, rather than the well-being of people and the country. .
According to the Excise Department “many have resorted to illicit liquor by setting up small units to distil spirits in their own homes”. It would be a great service to the country if they inform the other enforcement agencies of specific statistics and other details of this so-called “home breweries”, as they seem to be incapable or unwilling to address this.
It would not be hard to imagine that it is very unlikely that there are thousands of such places in Sri Lanka. If the Department is not competent enough to handle such small “home breweries” and the families living in such homes, Sri Lanka Police will probably be able to do a much better job of containing this. They also blame a series of video tutorials shared on social media platforms for the recent spike in home
breweries. Again, instead of giving such videos undue publicity in the national media, the Department can better serve the country and the Excise Act by implementing the law against such videos.
Although it seems to be impotent in the face of “home-breweries”, the Excise Department seems to have developed expertise in the clinical aspects of COVID 19. It states that “these home-brewed spirits could contain harmful substances posing significant risks to the health of individuals as much as COVID-19 health risks”.
The world would be well served if the research they have conducted on the effects of
different types of alcohol on the body in comparison to the clinical outcomes of COVID 19 is published as soon as possible.
The current scientific consensus is that alcohol causes harm to the human body be it
legal or illegal. Despite such unsubstantiated arguments to keep pushing alcohol down people’s throats, even this Department will concede that this so-called illicit production is not anywhere near the approximately 14
million bulk Iiters of alcohol (both beer and other alcohol) sold each month in Sri Lanka.
Therefore, we strongly request the Excise Department to seek ways of helping the government in its admirable efforts to protect all of us from COVID 19, instead of pushing hard for a policy that will derail this effort.
(The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) is the national professional medical association in Sri Lanka, which brings together medical practitioners of all grades and all branches of medicine)
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