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{
"id": 226820,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/226820/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Ali",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I also wish to congratulate the Mover of the Motion, because it is timely. There are a lot of problems in this country. Specifically, drug abuse problems are on the increase everyday. The National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) has done a good job. But, of late, it is going down. It looks like it was active only during the tenure of the former National Co-ordinator, who was very active. He was able to bulldoze everything and run to every department in the Government. But, of late, things are quiet. Even the person who is April 11, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 535 currently in charge is not as well known. Therefore, possibly, for the time being, as we await the appropriate Bill to be brought to the House, the Office of the President should strengthen the NACADA, and help the person in charge - I think she is a lady - to do the job. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, alcohol and cigarette industries are very big businesses. It is not easy to deal with them or just brush them aside. These are international organizations which have harassed people all over the world. If you interfere with their businesses, they fight back big. They even have lobby groups, as some of the hon. Members are aware, in the Executive; Ministries and Government offices. They give out money to make sure that whatever they want is done. If anybody tries to interfere, he or she is pushed aside. They even blackmail the Government by saying that because they pay huge taxes, there should be no laws to curb the use of their products. I hope when the appropriate Bill to check the use of their products is drafted, the Government will not dilute it and make it useless and ineffective, and in the long run be of no consequence to the people of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, acknowledging that the Government gets some revenue from the alcohol and cigarette industries, and also considering their disadvantages, I think we will even be forced to close those factories for a day. What do these products cause? How many man hours does one waste when he or she is drunk? You do not even know where you are going. If you were in your normal health status, what would you have done? How many other productive jobs would you have done? These are the things that we need to educate our people on. The number of people who are killed and maimed through road accidents because of drunken-driving is alarming. Likewise, the number of people who turn out to be unemployed and those who lose their jobs because of drunkenness is also on the rise. These drugs cause a lot of problems in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is one drug which nobody has mentioned here, yet, it is giving us a problem also. That is something called miraa which is grown in this country. It is causing problems in some parts of this country. For the adults who chew it, they can control themselves. But there is no law concerning miraa, as to who is supposed to sell it or who it is supposed to be sold to. Even a small child can just go to a vendor and say: \"I want a kilogramme of"
}