The abuse of alcohol by students from tertiary institutions had led the management from Eastern Cape Liquor Board to collaborate with Walter Sisulu University (WSU) (Zamukulungisa) in Mthatha to conduct a panel discussion under the theme ‘Psychosocial impact caused by excessive alcohol and related substance consumption’, last week.
According to the spokesperson for Eastern Cape Liquor Board (ECLB), Mgwebi Msiya, they engaged on how to combat alcohol and substance abuse among students.
“The discussions were based on the psychosocial impact caused by the excessive use of alcohol and substances. The platform allowed students to discuss possible ways to tackle alcohol and substance abuse in these institutions.”
“We are here to have a debate because our country has a big problem,” said Msiya.
He added that most people who are affected by this are young people, who are the future leaders of this country.
Msiya said they wanted to ask themselves why alcohol is normalised to the extent that nothing should be done without it.
According to him they decided to do something, as the Liquor Board. Msiya said they were not saying people should not drink alcohol, but they should do that responsibly.
He confirmed that the government was still looking at the Liquor Act.
One of the stakeholders who led one of the groups during dialogue, Fikile Hintsa, said some of the problems are that the students who are consuming too much alcohol end up not having money and this leads them to steal.
“When you are drunk you do things that are not right,” said Hintsa.
