I read letter written by Mr. Vidyaratha Kissoon on this subject and wholeheartedly agree on his central theme as I believe all decent and logical thinking Guyanese will.
However, the mere writing of letters as Mr. Kissoon is well aware will not do too much to bring about a desirable change in the attitude of people towards alcohol. I humbly suggest the following strategies and policies which may help.
1) Increase Tax on alcoholic beverages progressively a strategy which is pursued in developed countries.
2) Have warning labels be put on all alcoholic beverages similar to what the tobacco industry is forced to do
3) Put legislation in place if not already done to restrict the licensing of new beer gardens and other similar places where people can sell alcohol.
4) Limit length of time that places that sell alcohol can open for business. For example I suggest they be forced to close on Sundays until about 3.00 pm. In addition, none of these places should be allowed to open before 11:00 am in the morning and must close by 1:00 am in the following morning.
5) If laws are already not in place, introduce legislation with severe penalties for anyone caught Making or selling bush rum.
6) Enforce laws regarding sale of alcoholic products to children. Anyone purchasing these products must produce identification to show they are over 18 (or 21 better yet) and introduce stiff penalties for sellers found breaching this regulation
7) Give incentives for companies making alcoholic products to diversify into other types of products that can be beneficial to them and the country as a whole
8) ) The ministry of health, churches, and other interested agencies must embark on a sustained sensitisation program explaining the deleterious effects of alcohol starting with the schools with programs on television and billboards etc.
9) Ban all advertisements that promote alcohol sales, I know this will hurt a lot of persons and businesses but the situation is so critical that desperate situation s call for desperate measures .It would be interesting if statistics can be obtained to find out how many Guyanese are alcoholics?
C. PERSAUD
