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NCDA concerned about ease of access to alcohol by children

Denise Bingham, Senior Director at the National Council on Drug Abuse
 
By Kimone Witter    
 
The National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) is concerned about the ease of access to alcohol by children and is blaming this on cultural acceptance.
 
Denise Bingham, Senior Director at the NCDA, says the national average for alcohol use among Jamaicans, including children, is 46 per cent.
 
This, she says, is alarming.
 
Meanwhile, 77 per cent of respondents affirmed the use of alcohol in the NCDA's 2023 National Drug Prevalence Survey.
 
Ms. Bingham says the NCDA is taking the grassroots level approach to the problem of enforcement of the policies surrounding alcohol use.
 
This involves engaging community members and leaders regarding how to reduce the access to alcohol within their communities. 
 
"Because [children] are getting it very easily. They go to the shops. They can buy. Nobody's really saying, are you 18? Are you allowed? So there are serious issues pertaining to access to alcohol. They're in the homes where parents are not putting them away. And parents are not even realising that [the children are] engaging in the alcohol use at home too," she stressed, adding that the issue has even spread to schools where there are cases of children taking alcohol and "other kinds of concoctions in their water bottles".  
 
Ms. Bingham said outside the home, children will consume the cheaper variety of alcohol, but they are also getting their hands on alcohol gummies, or 'rummy bears', and other kinds of alcohol-infused edibles.
 
In the meantime, the National Council on Drug Abuse said the cultural norms which allow the unrestricted sale and widespread use of alcohol must be urgently addressed.
 
Ms. Bingham, who was speaking Tuesday on TVJ's Smile Jamaica, said the council cannot do it alone and is calling for more support from parents and partner groups to implement its prevention programmes by putting stronger measures and restrictions in place.
 


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