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| Sunday, 28 July 2002 |
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Big grants from US, Japan to combat menace The Interpol has identified Sri Lanka as a transit point for illicit narcotic drug trafficking, resulting in vast sums of foreign exchange being drained out of the country, according to the senior Vice President of the Colombo Plan International Society, Mr. Jim Ramanayake. This was disclosed at a workshop on the prevention of drug abuse among schoolchildren held at the Vidyakara Maha Vidyalaya, Maharagama and organised by the Colombo Plan International Society recently. Dr. (Mrs.) Shiromanie Abeyaratne, President of the Society, chaired the workshop. Mr. Ramanayake, thanked the United States and Japan for the grants of US Dollars 216,000 and Yen 70,000 million respectively, for the state agency, the Colombo Plan Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance , for the implementation of the prevention of narcotic drug abuse programs in the Asian and Pacific countries, which are members of the C-Plan Council. In the Western world and Colombo suburbs, youth who had been addicted to drugs had become a menace to the society and nuisance to their parents, Mr. Ramanaayake said. Another speaker at the workshop, Mr. Anton Jeyanathan, ex-DIG, Police, appealed to all the Officers-in-Charge of police stations to do their duties honestly and fearlessly and eradicate the illicit liquor trade and drug peddling without yielding to political interference, in order to save the youth of the nation. He appealed to the parents to discuss daily the activities of their children and also inspect their rooms for cigarette stubs, ash and alcohol. Police Inspector Heriyadeniya of the Narcotics Bureau said that a prison guard at Welikada Prisons was nabbed by the bureau who had been selling drugs to prison inmates. He also revealed that many drug abuse prisoners carried cell phones inside prisons and communicated with the underworld drug peddlers. Dr. (Mrs.) Shiromanie Abeyratne said that the Colombo Plan Society was planning to set up Drug Watch Cells to prevent the spread of drug consumption like in other countries and, at Maharagama, she proposed to set up the first one of its kind in Sri Lanka. After the seminar, Dr. (Mrs.) Abeyaratne conducted a workshop and awarded prizes to the winners of a quiz. Mr. Mahendra Jayasinghe, Asst. Director, Dangerous Drug Board, explained with photos how the vital organs of the human body rapidly deteriorate due to the poison in narcotic drugs and illicit liquor. Maharagama Police Sub-Inspectors Nirosha and Dahampath said that they would organise street plays to display the harmful effects of narcotic addiction. Mrs. T. Seneviratne, Principal of the school, thanked the C-Plan Society for conducting a very inspiring and eductive awareness program. |
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