ALCOHOL, DRUG ALERT – A Warning Against Excesses

TRADITIONALLY, the festive season in Saint Lucia has been one filled with food, drink, fun and family moments. For many people, though, the excessive alcohol consumption at this time of year has unfortunately become part of that pastime.

In its 2012 Global Alcohol Consumption Report, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed Saint Lucia as the leader among the Caribbean’s top ten alcohol-consuming islands. Moreover, Saint Lucia ranked highest in the Americas in the global alcohol consumption countries category. Two years later, Grenada replaced Saint Lucia as the island having the highest alcohol consumption per capita in the region, with Saint Lucia taking second place.

The battle against alcohol abuse has been an uphill one for both drinkers and those whose agenda is to wipe out the scourge that plagues many families. However, while many people acknowledge that Saint Lucia does have a serious problem with alcoholism, many argue that the WHO’s ranking of the island might be misplaced.

Cyprian Yarde, Director of the Substance Abuse Advisory Council Secretariat, said the statistics for Saint Lucia are startling not just for alcohol use but for illegal drugs as well. With the Christmas season now in the air, Yarde is urging Saint Lucians to be mindful of what’s truly important about the holidays.

“Celebration is not always about the heavy consumption of drugs and alcohol,” Yarde said this week. “During this festive season, we’re encouraging people to remain sober and drug-free. In that way, we believe they will have a better time. Celebrating the birth of Christ is not about alcohol consumption.”

Yarde said much of the music played during the festive season serves to exacerbate the problem by promoting the “drink the rum” message. However, he urged the public to be mindful of the serious repercussions of their alcoholic consumption, particularly those who should not drink alcohol for medical reasons.

“We’re making a special appeal to individuals who are suffering with chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension,” Yarde cautioned. “Some people forego their medication just so that they can indulge in the heavy consumption of alcohol. We know that it is not the way to go (because) it destroys us.”

Yarde said the last study conducted among students between 13 and 17 years old in secondary schools on the island revealed that many students confessed to having had their first alcoholic beverage before age 11. He said teenage drinking is a major concern but is often camouflaged by students using their water bottles to conceal alcoholic beverages. As such, he believes more needs to be done to target young people to curb the negative trend.

Last Monday, a group of youngsters from the drug-free group, Saint Lucia Youth Talent on Parade (SYTOP) were guests aboard the cruise vessel, “Freewinds,” where they engaged in a drug-free seminar hosted by Captain Ken Weber. Yarde said the seminar dubbed “The Truth About Drugs” was organized to broaden the scope in empowering the youth to stay away from drugs.

“It is important for us to partner with many different agencies that have the capacity and also the wealth of knowledge to assist us in spreading the word of being drug-free,” Yarde said. “It’s all about creating and raising drug-free awareness among our population and elsewhere.”

A common sight especially during the Assou Square activities is children consuming alcohol and smoking. While the police have expressed its commitment to curbing such practices, the problem never seems to be solved.

As one of the island’s most active drug-free clubs, Yarde said it was fitting that the SYTOP group ended the year with an educational tour aboard the vessel which calls into Saint Lucia between November and April each year. He said the festive season is an ideal time to continue sharing the drug- and alcohol-free message.

With respect to overall drinking, Yarde said bringing about a change in the culture of boozing would be “very difficult” to do because the behaviour “has been rooted in us”. Nevertheless, he advised that people drink in moderation.

According to Yarde, just about two schools now have active drug-free clubs and the future growth of such clubs rests on the word getting out that it’s not cool for young people to light up and drink.

Captain Weber said the drug-free message aboard the “Freewinds” has been around for the past 20 of the 27 years that the vessel has been coming to Saint Lucia and has proven to be effective worldwide. After being introduced to Yarde earlier this year, he was able to get an idea of what Yarde’s secretariat’s work involves and decided to support Yarde’s positive goal of steering especially young people away from bad influences.

Weber said the programme offered by the “Freewinds” has been adopted by the Colombian government as part of that country’s crackdown on its drug problem. After more than 20 years of being run, he believes it will continue to fulfil its mission in the coming years of defeating the drug scourge.

“It’s not something that’s going to get old,” Weber said. “But I think it’s something that will have to be around. Even if you beat down the drug programme, I don’t think it’s ever going to go away completely. But let’s do what we can to get the majority of the youths off drugs and not on them.”

Weber said that while the “Freewinds” programme does not offer direct financial assistance to organizations’ drug-free programmes, donations raised via the vessel’s passengers are used to purchase materials for such organizations.