Browsing by Author "Kithalawaarachchi, S.K."

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    Analysis of the Contemporary Situation of Illicit Alcohol Consumption in Sri Lanka
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2018) Guruge, G.N.D.; Young, S.M.; Kithalawaarachchi, S.K.
    Illicit alcohol “Kassippu” consumption is a serious threat in Sri Lankan community causing many deaths, especially in low-income families and common among both male and females. Excessive use of illicit alcohol can lead to physical, psychological and social harm since it contains methanol, a lethal substance in the brew in varying proportions. There are more than 200,000 illicit alcohol outlets operating in the country and about 5,000 manufacturers. Thus, an investigation was carried out by the President’s Task Force to see whether the consumption has decreased or increased between 2015 to 2017. Two methods have been followed where the President's Task Force (a) collected information from 228 out of 332 divisional secretariats through the respective divisional secretary (b) and collected information from 438 police stations in all nine provinces from the Officer in Charge of the relevant police station. A questionnaire was used to collect information to see whether the illicit alcohol consumption is low, moderate or high. The relevant highest officer in charge has certified the data collection. The results clearly show that the consumption of illicit alcohol in all provinces, percent mean for low, moderate and high was 51.5, 30.5, and 18.0 respectively. In the divisional secretariats, percent mean for low, moderate and high was 54.1, 33.6, and 12.3 respectively. Both methods show comparable results and a drastic decrease in 2017 since 2015. Especially high consumption category shows a 47.8% decrease (p < 0.0001, CI 95%). Eastern, Northern and Uva provinces show high percentages of low consumption in both cases while the Western province shows a high percentage for high consumption as for police data. The study concluded that there is a decrease in illicit alcohol consumption between 2015 and 2017 in Sri Lanka in almost all provinces where North, East and Uva provinces show a dramatic decrease.
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    Preferences and Attitudes of the Tourists Towards Alcohol Availability and The Policies in Sri Lanka
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2019) Kithalawaarachchi, S.K.; Young, S.M.; Guruge, G.N.D.
    Annually tourists arriving in Sri Lanka has increased up to 14% in 2016. This growth is important and should be maintained for national development. Recent proposals suggest that access to alcoholic drinks for tourists should be increased by reducing tax and increasing access points. A further warning given was that without increasing access for alcohol Sri Lanka is likely to loss many tourists in coming years. Therefore, this study focused on collecting firsthand evidence from tourists to determine the relationship between tourist’s arrivals and the opinion of tourists in relation to access to alcohol. Interview administered data was collected from 302 tourists 18 to 78 years of age, from 38 countries, from 9 cities where tourists visit the most. Participants for the survey were selected randomly from hotels, restaurants and while visiting places. Only 1% enjoyed having beer in the pub/hotel. Only 2% suggested access to alcohol should be increased. Difficulty of having a drink and not being able to smoke in public places was 2.6 and 1% respectively. More than 90% agreed on the policies banning of public drinking and smoking. Interestingly, number of participants highly appreciated it and stated that it was a life changing opportunity for them to change their smoking and drinking habits. The main reason to revisit Sri Lanka was nature, history and culture. Around 5% will revisit because they love the food while none of them stated they will revisit to go to clubs or for night life. Only 1.5% participants say that they will skip revisiting Sri Lanka as they have problems in obtaining alcohol in some places. It is evident that access to alcohol or availability of alcohol has not been seen by tourists as a problem and it has not been affected in their decisions to revisit Sri Lanka.