ABL continues campaign against underage drinking of alcohol
The Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) is carrying out a campaign to encourage young people under the age of 18 to stay away from alcohol.
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The company has, over the last three weeks, interacted with about 2,100 teenagers from the Swedru Senior High School (SHS) in the Central Region, Adeiso Presbyterian SHS in the Eastern Region and members of the Greater Accra Region Students Representative Council.
The Corporate Affairs Manager of ABL, Mr Cyrus deGraft Johnson, took the students through an interactive session on the dangers of underage drinking. He said the campaign was in accordance with ABL’s image as a responsible and community-oriented company.
“We can’t sit and wait for abuse of alcohol by young persons to become a national issue before we take steps to prevent it. We are acting now before it becomes a problem. As it were, we have received tacit endorsement from the Ghana Education Service to carry through our campaign,” he said.
While cautioning the students to pay attention to knowledge and advice they hadacquired, Mr deGraft-Johnson further urged them to take their studies seriously.
He said the ABL had over the years made sure to display labels on its alcoholic products warning consumers to drink responsibly.
“We also have a programme on alcohol and pregnancy that urges women not to consume alcohol when they are pregnant,” he said.
The students responded positively to the messages and caution and were appreciative of efforts by ABL to ensure they stayed in good health.
The Assemblyman for Adeiso, Mr Eric Kwesi Mensah, commended ABL for the initiative. He said the issue of underage drinking had become one of concern to authorities at the Adeiso Presbyterian SHS and, therefore, commended the company for moves it was making to bring the situation under control.
ABL has over the last two years embarked on a campaign of putting out the problem of underage drinking in the open for discussion. It intends to reach out to 10,000 people in the country this year whom it expects to become ambassadors to help spread the message regarding problems of underage drinking and possibly stop young persons from consuming alcohol.