Dear Editor,
OUR society is plagued by young and old rum drinkers from all walks of life, including men, women, young boys and girls, and even children as young as ten years old. We are also the country that has produced the best rum and alcoholic beverages anywhere, and we top the list now by producing plenty drunkards.

As I read the daily papers, I see that lots of innocent lives have been snuffed out by drink drivers. The police hardly give statistics about deaths caused by drink driving. The authorities need to take away the licenses of drink drivers for life, and there should be stricter laws for drink drivers.

Alcohol has been the destruction of the human race since the beginning of time, and it has now taken a toll on our country with a population of less than a million people. Alcohol has today been a major cause of the domestic violence in our country, and even globally. It has also been a contributing factor to suicide, murder, incest, accidents, ‘cussing’ and fighting. It is a major cause of poverty, family breakups, divorce, and the failure of our children in schools and universities. Alcohol is a drug just like marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc.

As I travel throughout the country, I can see rum shops all over the place. I rode through a small village and counted over 30 rum shops. We have rum and beer sellers at all our bus and car parks. Some of the drivers of minibuses and taxis drink all the time at these parks, and they put in danger their own lives, as well as the lives of those travelling with them.

Rum drinking has affected many communities, and domestic violence and suicide are prevalent in these communities. I know of a Justice of the Peace who owns a bar, grocery and gambling shop, who himself is an alcoholic. How can a Justice of the Peace own a bar and gambling shop? Maybe the Ministry of Legal Affairs would answer that question.

It’s over 12 years now since I applied to be a Justice of the Peace; I fulfilled all the requirements, but I am still waiting to be appointed. I am still waiting for a police report to be sent to the Ministry of Legal Affairs. I did, pertaining to my Commissioner of Oaths licence, I did at CID Headquarters and the Beteverwagting Police Station a few months ago. Until now, I have not heard anything about this report from the Ministry of Legal Affairs. Several calls to the BV station have proven futile.

I have seen bar owners selling rum and beer to schoolboys in their school uniforms. These people need to go to jail, and many of them also sell drugs and run gambling dens. Our country has become a very vulgar and lawless place to live in. Every day, we hear ‘cussing,’ ‘buseing’ and dirty language coming out of the mouths of our Guyanese people. From the rich to the intellectuals to the man in the street, they all behave the same way.

Alcohol abuse and cigarette smoking are contributing factors to major health issues such as brain damage, cancer, heart attacks, and even stroke. Drinking can cause blackouts, memory loss, and anxiety. Long-term drinking can result in permanent brain damage, serious mental health problems, and alcohol dependence or alcoholism. Young people’s brains are particularly vulnerable because the brain is still developing during the teenage years. Alcohol can damage parts of the brain, affecting behaviour.

Alcohol can cause high blood pressure (hypertension), which increases the risk of having a heart attack or stroke. It also weakens heart muscles, which can affect the lungs, liver, brain and other body systems, and also cause heart failure.

I totally agree with the Minister of Public Security about the late nights’ curfew. Why would people want to walk so late?

We have just seen the brutal stabbing to death of a very young man at the Plaisance hang out bar. That man could have been alive if he had been at home with his family. People are like night owls, they love to walk late, but those same people cannot sit for one hour in a church and listen to a service. I believe licensed rum shops should be given a quota to sell, meaning that if a man goes in to drink, two beers should be enough or two shots of vodka that’s how they sell alcohol abroad.

If we are to eradicate rum drinking, domestic violence, dangerous driving, etc, we must have more serious laws and close down all the illegal bars and rum shops in our country. We have become a land of lawlessness. We need to arrest it now before it’s too late.

I have known some very educated and talented individuals who cannot hold down a job because they have a drinking problem. The Prime Minister recently fired a worker because of drink driving; he crashed a Government vehicle. I agree with the Prime Minister. Why should he employ a drunk to drive Government vehicles?

REVEREND GIDEON CECIL