The spice Isle, Grenada has been ranked top in the world for alcohol consumption by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The report is based on per capita usage and relates to WHO’s 2014 Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health. Ranking second is St. Lucia. The WHO report also indicated that 66 per cent of the alcohol consumed is hard liquor or spirits while the rest includes wine and beer, with wine being on the latter end of the consumption spectrum at 4 per cent consumption. The report also indicated that Grenadian women drank more than their male counterparts.
However, Dave Alexander, the Drug Control Officer in the Ministry of Education said that Grenadians are not consuming alcohol any more than their regional brothers and sisters. He said that while the report is cause for concern, the information needs to be studied in greater detail and said “one has to look at various aspects of the report and one just cannot look at the one chart or one piece of data to get the whole picture.”
“When they put the data together, what you’d realize when you look at the size of the population per hundred thousand, based on the consumption pattern, it would indicate there is a high consumption pattern based on that ratio. It does not mean that Grenada consumes more alcohol than any other country,” Alexander told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
“It does not mean that more females are drinking than males but when you look at the per capita, that is the critical thing. One has to look at it from a statistical standpoint and really understand what the variables are to come up with the type of data,” Alexander told CMC.
PAHO and WHO are currently attempting to address the consumption of alcohol in the region with a view to developing country programmes to address the issues and to develop policies related to alcohol consumption.
Alexander indicated that public awareness campaigns along with policy interventions will look to address issues of alcohol consumption in the Country.
“We will take this draft policy to the public to get their views on what it says…it is envisaged that by the end of this year the policy would be ready for Cabinet approval. We will also look at amendments to the Liquor License Act”, he said.
“We need to take measures to reduce access and availability. Also back then they did not have the issue of advertising because there was no media…so the Act back then would not have taken those situations into account,” he concluded.
