NewsWhore
08-09-2007, 05:50 PM
The director of the Alcohol and Drug Program at the Ministry of Public Health's Mental Health Department has opposed moves to relax the time limits on the sale of alcoholic beverages, as reported in the Listin Diario. Elias Tejada, who heads the department, said that the decree shouldn't be modified because it is a known fact that 85% of the family conflicts reported to the National District Prosecutor's Child & Teenager Unit are alcohol-related. Tejada says that alcohol is also associated with serious health and work risks. Tejada, quoted in Listin Diario, cited a recent Gallup poll that indicated that 90% of families wish to keep the decree as is. He spoke at a presentation at the Universidad Catolica de Santo Domingo on alcoholism in teenagers. Paul Sealed and Maristela Monteiro, consultants to the Panamerican Health Organization, presented findings that Dominicans are initiated in alcohol at 14 or 15 years in their homes with their parents.
Tejada urged that the DR enforce measures such as banning drinking while driving, sale of alcohol to minors, ban on alcohol being sold near schools.
Chief of the Police, Bernardo Santana Paez also opposes the removal of the alcohol sales restriction. He said the limit has helped reduce crime. He said that in the National District they had to deal with 60-67 deaths a onth. And that these are down to 12-13 deaths, of which 60% are family violence or fights.
In the DR, alcohol sales outside of tourist resorts are limited to 12 midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and to 2am on holidays, Fridays and Saturdays. The weekday time limit was recently extended to 1am in the resort of Cabarete, in Puerto Plata province.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)
Tejada urged that the DR enforce measures such as banning drinking while driving, sale of alcohol to minors, ban on alcohol being sold near schools.
Chief of the Police, Bernardo Santana Paez also opposes the removal of the alcohol sales restriction. He said the limit has helped reduce crime. He said that in the National District they had to deal with 60-67 deaths a onth. And that these are down to 12-13 deaths, of which 60% are family violence or fights.
In the DR, alcohol sales outside of tourist resorts are limited to 12 midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and to 2am on holidays, Fridays and Saturdays. The weekday time limit was recently extended to 1am in the resort of Cabarete, in Puerto Plata province.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#6)