Dear Editor,

Excess use of alcohol is a massive problem in our society. Yet private sector companies are campaigning for more alcohol consumption as though they are concerned only about making profit. Banks has launched a promotion luring people to consume more and more alcohol in order to get a chance at winning a huge sum of forty million dollars ($40M). This comes as a slap in the faces of the organizations which are working very hard to combat the problems of alcohol use. Guyana is suffering from a host of terrible problems caused or made worse by alcohol abuse: domestic violence which results in serious injuries and sometimes murders of mothers, leaving our young children traumatised and sometimes parentless; violence in the home against children themselves; health issues including cirrhosis of the liver, unsafe sexual behaviour, rape and sexual assaults, numerous road deaths and injuries caused by drunken drivers.

Poor people, for want of money to survive, can be tempted to leap at the opportunity of winning the Banks “prize”, thus consuming excessive amounts of alcohol which affects their judgment, putting their health at risk and endangering their lives and the lives of others.

The laws in Guyana as they relate to drinking are not being implemented. There is no monitoring of alcohol consumption and purchases. Young children are being sent to buy alcohol. Many of our youths are in the habit of using alcohol. Some schools are selling beer and other alcoholic beverages at school fairs and other functions thus endangering the lives of many.

Organisations are battling with the crises being caused by excessive alcohol consumption, yet Banks is offering such a huge sum of money for people to consume even more. NGOs and families without finances cannot combat this kind of commercial interest.

We call on everyone concerned to do better:

1. On the Principals of all the schools in Guyana to ensure that there are no alcoholic beverages at school functions,

2. On parents and other adults to stop sending children to buy alcoholic beverages,

3. On liquor stores/bar owners to desist from selling alcohol/alcoholic beverages to children/youths,

4. On law enforcement agencies to review and properly implement the laws governing the usage of alcohol,

5. On the government to enact laws restricting companies from placing their advertisements near schools and other environments where children are to be found and for each advertisement to have warnings like those of the tobacco companies,

6. On Banks DIH and other liquor companies to pool their advertising monies and donate them to the organisations which are trying to deal with the problems of alcohol use in Guyana. The $40,000,000 “prize money” from Banks DIH is bigger than the national annual budget to deal with alcohol use.

Excess use of alcohol is one of the contributing factors to the destruction of our society and it is the responsibility of all of us to protect the society in which we live.

We salute the groups especially Mothers In Black on their work trying to save lives.

Yours faithfully,

Joy Marcus

Halima Khan

For Red Thread

Editor’s note

We are sending a copy of this letter to Banks DIH Limited for any comments they may wish to make.