Virgin Islanders urged to drink less alcohol for ‘Dry October’
The territory-wide campaign is aiming to sensitise people of the harmful effects of the abuse of alcohol and to encourage people to drink less.
Public Health Nutritionist Ms Patrice Maduro, referencing a 2009 STEPS survey in a report from GIS, indicated that excessive consumption of alcohol is a major health risk and the behavior is occurring increasingly among the male population, with 50% consuming alcohol and 27% engaged in heavy episodic drinking.
“The abuse of alcohol is one of four modifiable risk factors contributing to non-communicable chronic diseases especially obesity, cancers, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and liver disease. There is also an association between learning difficulties, memory loss, poor mental health, and alcohol abuse,” she said.
Benefits of being alcohol-free
Ms Maduro added that being alcohol-free for the month shows that persons do not need alcohol to have fun, to relax, or to socialise.
“It helps us learn the skills we need to manage our drinking. That means that for the rest of the year we are better able to make decisions about when we drink and how much, so we can avoid slipping into drinking more than we really want to.”
For the rest of October, persons are being urged to think about their alcohol consumption to take on the challenge to abstain from imbibing.
The campaign also has an accompanying ’TRY DRY’ app where persons can track and set their own custom goals to be alcohol-free.
16 Responses to “Virgin Islanders urged to drink less alcohol for ‘Dry October’ ”
Neverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
But them real drunkards are the Rich people who can buy cases of wine and expensive whiskey and get drunk at home.
I've only made my first Gucci purchase last week and I've ordered my bag online (Gucci Soho Disco). I'm super happy with the bag, however, I've had a weird story with the packaging.
I was expecting the new packaging, because I knew they've discontinued the old one. To my surprise, they've put the bag in a small cardboard box in that cheap feeling white bag (pretty sure it's polyester and I have no idea how polyester is environment friendly). I've called Gucci asking why they didn't pack it in a Gucci box to secure it for the shipping and they told me there are no boxes for Discos (and the woman wasn't very nice, like since I only buy such a cheap bag I'm not worth the conversation nor a proper box), but telling her I want a box for storing the bag (I don't want it to get damaged when I store it) she finally admitted that they do give boxes for Discos when the customer asks for it, but I can only get one in store in Warsaw or Krakow (which is like a 5 hour journey for me to both places - I didn't bother to go for the bag, I sure am not going just for the box!) and said she can't ship it to me, but I can talk to the customer service of their department store. So I've talked to the customer service and they've told me they can ship me the box with no problem. So the box arrived, but to my surprise it's the old brown box! It does look a bit bizarre to me, now I wish I had the old dustbag as well or at least the box to match the dustbag... And I remember when I was talking to Gucci she specifically told me they have new boxes now and new packaging only. I felt like they were trying to scam me in a way and it made me feel cheap. It's ok for storing the bag, but I'm worried it will look fake if I ever decide to sell it (not that I plan on selling the bag). Anyway, I'm a bit disappointed with Gucci's customer service, they've left a bad impression on me.
I wonder if anybody else experienced something like that? Is it just here or is it global? Was I being absurd to want a box for storing my bag?