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The Presbyterian Church has strongly criticised the new draft alcohol legislation and has reiterated that it remains firmly opposed to what it calls their liberalisation.
Meeting in Belfast this morning, the Church's Board of Social Witness passed a resolution which expressed the Church's continuing opposition and stated that "such changes will only serve to further add to the mounting moral and social problems which are a result of the abuse of alcohol."
Speaking after the debate Rev Maynard Cathcart, Convener of the Church's Board of Social Witness said, "We are extremely disappointed though not surprised that our suggestions to the government have been totally ignored. It would appear that on one hand the Government is concerned about alcohol misuse through its sensible drinking policy and yet on the other encourages its use by deregulation. This message appears to be inconsistent and confusing."
"The last thing we need is more availability of alcohol," added Mr Cathcart. "Despite the publicity surrounding drugs like ecstasy, alcohol is by far the biggest problem that young people face in terms of overall drug abuse. More availability, including the widespread promotion and sale of alcoholic lemonades, means more use and that leads to more problems. Young people seem to start out on alcohol that is easily available and then graduate to more serious drugs."
However the Church did have some words of praise too, commending the recent action of off- licence owners in Omagh who have agreed to withhold from display and refrain from selling cheap high alcohol drinks to problem drinkers in the town. The Board commended such action to all off-licence owners.
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