I wonder whether anybody got drunk on the black o-pium energy drink for it to be banned in Maldives.
This is a Thai energy drink with mushroom extract in it.
It is a lightly carbonated energy drink that uses the same formula (with the exception of carbonated water) as its non-carbonated counterpart.
As reported on Haveeru, the NCB said in a statement that although there were no traces of any narcotic drugs in the drink, the NCB believed that the name of the brand and the phrases used in promotions and advertisement for the product encouraged people to abuse its namesake drug.
Maldives may have insulted the Black O-pium energy drink, but when the action comes from a country that is desperately trying to control an out-of-control drug crisis, we just have to treat it as a lesser evil.
So we bid adios to the funky looking drink , not for its fault but because we as a people failed to stop an onslaught of drugs by greedy traffickers who have addicted an alarming number of our younger generation. Any product that carries an unsettling name may find similar trouble, since our society is at the edge of an abyss.
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MALDIVIAN HIP HOP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrRbprFdZDk
Check it out
I listened to an interview Dr. Abdullah Waheed (who is in charge f NCB) gave to Voice of Maldives. He explained the action had been taken to ban the drink in Maldives and invoked the law on drugs (and I assume narcotic substances).... and the reporter asked him a question to this effect: we do have drinks labeled beer also ( I think he meant the non-alcoholic beer...) so are you going to ban beers too? To this the Dr. replied that this particular law did not have anything to do with beer. But I suppose there will be another law that says the consumption of alcoholic beer is not allowed in the country.
The interview made me think how complicated our (legal) approach is to somethings... like alcohol for instance...
This says more about our mentality and how we perceive ourselves as an ignorant and highly credulous people. In other word "suckers". This belief is age old and is still rampant. Add to this more than a hint of distrust and we get the complete Maldivian.
Here is a fine example I believe: I once applied to register business name called "Playnet" - for a cyber/games cafe'.
After 2 days the trade ministry's response was that there was one "Planet Electronics" that sounds similar and that people might confuse "Playnet" for "Planet". It wasn't enough that these names were entirely differently spelled but also that they were on entirely different islands too.
See what I mean?
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