Linking up against alcohol abuse
Publication: Sunday Sun
Paper Section And Page: 15A
Paper Date: Sun, Dec 17, 2000
Byline: by Terry Ally
THE rum industry and the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) are expected to make a joint statement soon, on a collaboration aimed at stemming alcohol abuse.
Director of NCSA, Tessa Chaderton-Shaw, said this had come out of two meetings between the two bodies this year. A joint statement, which is still being devised, could be made as early as January to be celebrated as National Drug Awareness Month.
This meeting of the minds was among the major successes achieved this year, she said during an interview with the sUNDAY Sun.
"We met with them in September and November to tell them our mandate and get them to understand that we are not here to knock industry or shut them down, but we just want to work together and get them to understand they have a responsibility to the Barbadian public to get them to be responsible users, if there is such a thing.
"That is, to move away from gay abandon and binge drinking, as happens at this time of the year.
"We want them to be more responsible in advertising. Let's not glamorise it to the point where children know jingles as they do. Let's have better labelling of the products. Let's demonstrate that we are good corporate citizens and we do not want to create alcoholics."
Chaderton-Shaw said the industry representatives were supportive Ð though they did not agree with every position of NCSA - and the meeting surpassed her expectations.
For her, the climax to a "great year" of battling drug abuse was the closure of the Guinness Rush Hour Ð a one-hour radio show on 95.3 HOTT FM hosted by L'il Rick.
"I spoke out against the Guinness Rush Hour which promoted unwholesome messages and I think our youth are safer today," she said.
Another notable achievement was the "narrowing of the chasm" between the law enforcement sector and the demand reduction side.
"I was invited to speak to the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police and that, for me, was unprecedented. It was an opportunity to educate the police commissioners on what we are doing and stimulate them on areas of collaboration."
Chaderton-Shaw also said that thanks to a business relationship with a public relations firm, the NCSA had also become high profile and a household word and this had helped them to "put drug awareness on the map".
"We relocated to Bridgetown which is more centralised and better accessed by members of the public and we were able to deliver to people who just walk in off the street. Sometimes we even get visitors from cruise liners who want to be referred to a self-help group."
Next year will mark five years that the NCSA has been in existence and it will conduct an evaluation which, among other things, should be able to provide information on the level of impact of its drug reduction programmes.
Drug Awareness Month in January will see a number of activities including: the launch of the UNICEF/NCSA anti-tobacco pilot project at Combermere and Bay Primary; an outreach to primary schools in rural parishes, a march against drugs through Bridgetown on January 20 and a drug awareness workshop targeting parents, hosted jointly with the Pan American Health Organisation.