Unchecked alcohol abuse taking toll on economy, Lawrence warns

Volda Lawrence holding up a copy of the DVD `Guyanese Girls Gone Wild Part Two’

Saying alcohol is the cheapest and most accessible commodity drug being abused by Guyanese, APNU’s Shadow Minister of Human Services Volda Lawrence yesterday castigated the Donald Ramotar administration for failing to address the impact alcohol abuse has on the economy in the proposed budget.

“It matters not how large the budget is nor how substantial the increase allocated to the social services sector once there continues to be easy access to cheap alcohol in the communities… we as a nation will surely pay the price,” Lawrence warned during her contribution to the debate on this year’s planned spending, during which she held a bottle of liquor to emphasise her point.

She noted that the Health Ministry in a partnership with the Pan American Health Organisation found that