HEALTH-SRI LANKA: Illicit Drink Found ‘Safe’

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Jul 5 2000 (IPS) - New findings that a clandestinely sold liquor, popular in Sri Lankan villages, is not harmful, have worried those who blame alcohol for worsening rural poverty in the Indian Ocean island nation.

A survey on alcohol consumption has found that the illicit drink, locally known as ‘kassipu’, contrary to long-held belief, is not only unadulterated, but has less alcohol content than licensed brands.

“The data is mind-boggling. Whoever thought kassipu would be as clean as arrack, Sri Lanka’s legal alcoholic beverage,” said Ranil Abeysinghe, spokesperson for the research team and chief of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka’s central hill region.

He admitted that the finding would come under fire from anti- liquor campaigners who blame the police for not controlling the growing number of illicit alcohol shops in the countryside.

Alcohol abuse experts say illicit liquor is usually adulterated and can kill. “I don’t know about this research but the legal liquor industry is so powerful that they could even fund such research to show that the liquor problem is mainly to do with the illegal, adulterated stuff,” said an anti-alcohol official.

She also wondered if the data collected was adequate to form the basis for the conclusion that the illicit drink was safe.

However, Abeysinghe believes that kassipu should be legalised. “I must say I have strong, rather controversial views on illicit liquor. I believe that kassipu must be legalised and made an alcoholic beverage like any other drink,” he said.

He pointed out that by driving the popular drink underground, the ban had actually exposed drinkers to risk of adulteration by unscrupulous brewers.

The three-month study in March 1999 was conducted in the towns of Thotalanga and Jaela, north of Colombo, the rice-growing areas of Anuradhapura and Dambulla in the northcentral region and Hatton, a tea-growing area in the central hills.

The five researchers lived in these areas during the survey period, pretending to be workers living in the same locality.

The team collected kassipu samples which were sent to local laboratories for testing. Only two of the 27 kassipu samples tested were found to contain impurities.

“Even these were not toxic. None of the kassipu drinkers reported getting a hangover. In fact, at Thotalanga, those who drank kassipu at night woke up at 4 a.m. in the morning and made their way to the illegal joint for another shot,” Abeysinghe told IPS.

Kassipu was found to be the cheapest drink and freely available. Drinkers in the small town of Thotalanga near Colombo daily guzzled 240 litres of beer, 260 litres of arrack, 450 litres of toddy and 750 litres of kassipu. While arrack had a 32 percent alcohol content, the kassipu was 22 percent alcohol.

A kassipu bottle typically sells for between 40 rupees (about 50 U.S. cents) and 60 rupees. In comparison, the cheapest arrack is 240 rupees per bottle while beer is 50 rupees a bottle. The cheapest liquor is toddy at about 15 rupees per bottle, but has a very low alcohol content.

The survey found a nexus between the police, local politicians and kassipu joint owners who got off with small fines whenever raids were conducted. At Thotalanga, researchers saw policemen collecting money from illicit liquor vendors.

“We found that there was a basic shift in drinking patterns to illicit liquor from arrack and toddy in 1989 and 1990 mainly due to an increase in the price of arrack at that time. As arrack prices went up – mainly due to higher taxes, drinkers moved to the illegal segment of the market,” Abeysinghe said.

He blamed poor government policies for increased kassipu consumption. While all other alcohol beverages like arrack, toddy (fermented coconut water) and beer are licensed and heavily taxed, kassipu escapes the tax net.

The high consumption is also due to the surreptitious manner in which kassipu is drunk. “They go to an illegal joint in the village or town, quickly gulp a drink given in a small plastic bag from the local vendor, throw the bag and then go away. There is no social drinking as in the case of other alcohol,” he added.

Kassipu is made with fermented coconut water, sugar and yeast, though brewers sometimes put in cement or urea to increase the intoxicating effect, the study found.