‘Sujatha Daruwo’ program commences on 15 March to protect children from drug menace: President

The ‘Sujatha Daruwo’ program will commence from 15 March as a special program of the National Drug Prevention Project to protect the new generation and school children from the drug menace, President Maithripala Sirisena said.

The President made these remarks participating in the opening ceremony of the new building of Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency, Thursday (28). This new building is located at Block D of the premise of the Sugathadasa Outdoor Stadium. 

Speaking at the event, President Sirisena said that there is an organised racket in the country to smuggle dangerous drugs and introduce drugs into universities and among the school children by using various methods. The Sujatha Daruwo Program will implement a broad program to educate students on how to combat it, he added.

The President also said that the Sujatha Daruwo Program will be introduced among the school children as a friendly program with the contribution of the relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Health as well as with the assistance of the Army, Navy, Air Force and the Police under the coordination of the Presidential Secretariat and with the participation of expert medical teams.

The President further said that according to the new statistics the number of people who consumed dangerous drugs is nearly 2 lakhs. The President also pointed out that the Government has already implemented a comprehensive program to strengthen the laws relating to illegal drug trafficking as well as to prevent it and said that the establishment of authority on rehabilitation of drug addicts is currently taking place.

President Sirisena also highlighted the importance of our sports men and women, who take the good image of the country to the world, being healthy and good citizens, who do not use drugs and stimulants.

The Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency functions with the aim of building a disciplined generation and a clean sport field while preventing the use of stimulants. 

The new building, built at a cost of Rs. 190 million, is comprised of five storeys, and blocks have been established in this building to investigate the use of stimulant drugs according to international standard. It also has a fully equipped auditorium to hold seminars and awareness programmes.

Minister Harin Fernando, Professor Arjuna de Silva, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Anti-Doping Agency, sports instructors, coaches and sports men and women were also present at the occasion.