Drink Sense campaign 2007

SUPPORT: Gazette editor Azam, second from left, listens to Jason Stacey at the launch.

Gazette 07 Dec 2007

Solutions make sense
(Copyright © Ealing Gazette)

Launch of sensible drinking campaign to hit hard against the horrors of alcohol abuse

THE DRINK Sense campaign was officially launched on Tuesday setting out the agenda for the next three weeks.

The Drug And Alcohol Programme (DAAP), a charity which strives to educate every¬one on the dangers of alco¬holism and where to turn to if suffering from addiction, is holding events throughout the borough.

Five open days will screen Paul Watson's hard-hitting film about the horrors of alcoholism showing viewers the terrible effects on real lives.

A wide range of organisations will be available for one-to-one advice and support for people with addictions, or those who know others with problems.

Advice on staying safe, such as how to avoid having drinks spiked and knowing safe limits, will be available in five different languages.

Stalls will also be set up at churches, shopping centres, hospitals, pubs and other public areas giving advice.

The council, the police and the Gazette were among those pledging to support the campaign, which will run up to Christmas, at the launch at Baling Town Hall.

Baling Gazette editor, Shujaul Azam, said: "The cam¬paign deserves all our support because it's key to raise aware¬ness about sensible drinking among all different sections of the community.

"The campaign doesn't just highlight the dangers of irresponsible drinking but also puts forward constructive solutions."

DAAP chief executive officer Perminder Dhillon said: "We're looking forward to actually getting the information out to all the residents and the people that socialise in Baling.

"The message is to stay safe over Christmas and New Year."

The next open day will be held at the Southall Business Centre in High Street, Southall, from 10am to 5pm on Tuesday.

To find out what's happening in your area visit www.daap. org.uk or call the team on 020 8843 0945.

Film charts broken lives of alcoholics
by Michael Russell (Copyright © Ealing Gazette)

AN INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed filmmaker has thrown his weight behind the Drink Sense campaign by screening his hard-hitting film showing the devastating effects of alcohol on real lives.

The 100-minute film, described by Paul Watson as a painful watch, follows the lives of four alcoholics as they struggle to rebuild their lives, two of whom die in front of him.

Mr Watson also made the controversial documentary film Malcolm and Barbara: Lave s Farewell, for ITV about Alzheimer's disease, which claimed to show the moment of Malcolm Pointer's death from the disease.

He said: "When Perminder Dhillon told me what she was doing at DAAP, I was impressed. The attitude that if the government isn't going to do something we're going to do something ourselves, I like to support that.

"People trust me and I trust them and they let me witness very often the awfulness and the celebration of their life. For about 40 years people have been letting me come into their lives - it's very intimate.

"I've always been interested in the way alcoholism takes hold of certain sorts of people and I'm very, very lucky to make films I want to make.

"I make films for one reason, for what people might get to understand through the access I manage to get. It's not pleasant watching someone die, or watching them get drunk. It's not pleasant to see their parents give up on them and the effects that can happen. I want people to be aware of that.

"I believe alcoholism is increasing because of 24-hour pubs and a lack of advertising or preparing people for the worst effects of alcoholism, because the government makes so much money out of it. It spends 10 times more on drugs than it does an alcohol.

"The government makes 30-second commercials which are effective. I make films about the real lives of real people.

"One alcoholic affects about seven people in their lives. The wife is upset or beaten up, vio¬lence in the home the children suffer by watching it, parents are upset, employers have to sack them.

"It's no good just appealing to kids who binge drink - what they do notice is a binge drinker dying aged 26, and I'm with her when she dies.

"That's how you get through to people - showing real lives not manufactured lives."

The filmmaker added it was important the advice given by DAAP is in a variety of languages.

He said: "The national material going out trying to persuade people not to drink excessively at Christmas is all in English. This is a multi-racial nation. They don't get as much advice. Muslims and other nations get alcoholics too."

Gazette 30 Nov 2007

Drain away the drink and all of its dangers
by Alex Adams (Copyright © Ealing Gazette)

As the number of people admitted to hospital with alcohol poising has doubled in a decade, the Gazette lends its support to the Drink Sense campaign to help the issue.

IN THE run-up to the Christmas festivities the Gazette has teamed up with a charity to lay bare the borough's spiralling problem with booze and binge-drinking.

The plummeting price of booze in super markets, bars luring ever younger customers, lax licensing laws and longer hours for alcohol sales have all helped to double the number of drink-related deaths since 1991.

Following its smoking ban, the Government is hoping to turn its attention to our other favourite habit, drinking.

Baling has just been given more than £300,000 to pilot a scheme helping problem drinkers, and over the coming weeks we will investigate attitudes to alcohol in the borough.

The Gazette will speak to health workers, medics and young people to find out their views on booze.

At the same time, Southall-based Drugs and Alcohol Action Programme (DAAP) has launched Drink Sense, a three-week drive aiming to remind drinkers of the dan gers of alcohol addiction and binging.

After its launch on December 4, the charity will be holding four open days designed to make it easier for residents to get advice on alcohol, including a range of videos designed to bring home the effect heavy drinking has on people and their families.

A number of stalls will also be set up in schools, pubs, police stations and community buildings across the borough to educate people about the consequences of alcohol abuse.

DAAP chief executive officer Perminder Dhillon said: "This really will touch people emotionally so they can look at their own drinking, or addicition within their own families."

Turn to pages four and five for the first instalment of our four-week campaign. (see below)
by Alex Adams (page 5)

AS THE festive season descends upon us, revellers will be piling into pubs, bars and restaurants across Baling borough to celebrate.

But as drinking deaths continue to rise throughout Britain, an Baling charity has launched a campaign to warn partygoers of the darker side to their Christmas excesses.

Across the country, hospital admissions of patients with alcohol poisoning have almost doubled in the last 10 years.

Baling medical and paramedics have recorded a dramatic increase in booze-related incidents in recent years Baling, especially since the licensing laws were relaxed in 2002.

But the Drink Sense campaign run by the Southall-based Drug and Alcohol Programme - is aiming to make residents aware of the consequences of binge drinking and alcohol addiction.

Chief executive officer Perminder Dhillon said: "We want to focus people's minds on drinking sensibly leading up to Christmas and New Year.

"We will enable people from different languages and cultural backgrounds to access information about safer drinking and alcohol addiction."

"It's not just about picking up literature. The whole campaign is designed to allow people face-to-face contact with alcohol advice services."

"This really will touch people emotionally so they can look at their own drinking, or addiction within their own families."

Acting as a one-stop shop for alcohol advice, the first open day will be held on December 6 at the Nelson Room in Haling Town Hall, in New Broadway.

The next will take place on December 11 at Southall Business Centre in the Old Town Hall, High Street, with the third at Baling Education Centre, Mansell Road, Greenford, on December 13.

The final open day is on December 19 at the Priory Community Centre in Acton Lane, Acton. All the events run from 10am-5pm.

There will also be a host of flyers crammed with advice on alcohol addiction, binge drinking and safe drinking limits.

These leaflets will also be translated into Polish and a range of South Asian languages in a bid to reach the marginal sections of the community.

DAAP stalls will also be dotted across the borough's pubs, police stations, schools and community buildings throughout December.

Baling Police will also be increasing patrols over Christmas, mixing uniformed officers with plain-clothes cops to keep the town centres safe.

A spokesman said: "Anyone getting drunk and becoming disorderly faces an expensive night out with the possibility of an £80 fixed penalty fine or a court appearance."

But nationally, the fight to combat problem drinking has already begun.

In October, Baling's Drugs and Alcohol Action Team was chosen alongside teams in Manchester, Liverpool and Cheshire to pilot a £330,000 scheme to give persistent binge drinkers counselling.

A similar pioneering programme is already running in Gloucestershire and Dudley, where police have reported significant reductions in alcohol-related offences.

The big supermarkets have been branded 'irresponsible' by the Royal College of Physicians after they took the move of lowering the price of own-brand booze to undercut local off-licences.

The RCP's Professor Ian Gilmore said: "If you look at the burden of damage to society, it's hugely greater for alcohol than for drugs."

And worries were raised by Alcohol Concern after it was revealed last Monday that supermarkets are now offering their discount lager at just 22p a can significantly less than for their mineral water or bottles of cola.

Policy director Don Shenker said: "This sends out entirely the wrong message to the young drinkers we are trying to steer away from alcohol abuse.

"We urge the supermarkets to seriously review their pricing policy."

The official launch of the campaign will be next Tuesday at the Telfer Room, Baling Town Hall.

Speakers on the issue will be Peter Kottlar, head of substance misuse at Baling Drug and Alcohol Action team; Susan Parsonage, director of safer communities; Shujaul Azam, editor of the Gazette; Perminder Dhillon of the Drug and Alcohol Programme and Council Leader Jason Stacey.

Soaking up the facts...

The alcohol-related death rate in the UK has more than doubled from 4,144 in 1991 to 8,386 in 2005.
In 44 per cent of all violent incidents in 2006, victims believed offenders to be under the influence of alcohol.
In 2005/06, there were more than 19,000 diagnoses of alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver in England.
In 2005/06,187,640 people were admitted to hospital because of alcohol - more than double the 1995/96 figure, which was 89,280.

Where to find out more

December 5:

Thames Valley University, Ealing campus: 11am-2pm.
Perceval House, New Broadway: 1-2pm.
Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre: 2pm-6pm.

December 7:

Ealing College: 11am-2pm. Ealing Police Station: 3-4pm.

December 8:

Ealing Hospital: 11am-2pm.
Somerfield, Southall Broadway: noon-3pm.
Boston Gym, Southall: 3-5pm.

December 10:

Acton College : 11am-2pm.
Acton Police Station: noon-3pm.
Acton Oak Shopping Centre, High Street: 3-5pm.

December 12:

Greenford, Ruislip Road (opposite Tesco): noon-3pm.

December 14:

Southall College: 11am-2pm.
Southall Police Station: 2-4pm.
Hanwell Broadway: noon-3pm.

December 15:

Ealing Hospital: 11am-2pm.
Ealing Broadway: 2-5pm.

December 16:

Ealing Polish Church, Windsor Road: 11am-1pm.
Vishwa Hindu temple, Lady Margaret Road , Southall: 11.30am-1pm.

December 17:

Northolt village: noon-3pm.

December 18:

Gate House, Ealing Hospital : 10am-1pm.
Ealing Hospital: 2-4pm.

December 20:

Gate House, Ealing Hospital: 10am-1pm.
Ealing Hospital: 2-4pm.

December 21:

Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre:11am-2pm.

Case study: The DAAP and me

THE Drugs and Alcohol Programme has been instrumental in turning round the lives of many people who have become addicted to drink or drugs and have nowhere else to turn.

One 53-year-old man has been visiting DAAP for more than a year and a half, returning whenever he needs help and to share his experiences with others.

Having used drugs and alcohol for 40 years, he decided he needed help after finding out he had damaged many of his organs and was constantly getting into trouble with the police.

Originally working as a refrigeration engineer when he moved to London, work dried up for him after an accident on the job, and the alcohol and drugs took hold.

He said: "Most drugs are like a pain killer, but I have damaged my organs. My kidneys and liver have been done in, and I have liver cirrhosis that is now being treated."

"I was getting worse when I decided I needed help after getting into trouble with the police. I just wanted a drastic change."

"It's good to come back to an environment like this where I can really get help."

"It's so difficult to get help from your own people, friends or your doctor."

Calling Time On Drinking

THREE Ealing teenagers met a European MP on Friday to hear what he plans to do about alcohol and drug abuse.

Michelle O'Donoghue, 13, Callum Woolmore, 14 and Cortnee Pink, 14, who all attend the Ealing Study Centre Pupil Support, Talbot Road, Southall UB2 5QH, were guests of the Drug and Alcohol Action Programme charity which hosted Robert Evans MEP at its centre in Bridge Road, Southall.

Mr Evans was there to highlight the European Parliament's report on drink labelling and warnings, which calls for strategies to protect vulnerable young people.

He said: "Drink is a habit. People do drink a lot here - in other parts of the world they can't believe we go out with the intention of getting drunk."

The young guests said they did not have much experience of drink and drugs but Michelle, of South Acton, said the problem was one which affected her home life.

She said: "There are people living in my block doing drugs and smoking crack. They go to the toilet in the block. It needs to be cleaned up."

The group agreed but many of the volunteers felt a cause of the problem is the fact there is little for youngsters to do.

Harbhajan Ghatore, from DAAP, said: "There's nowhere for them to go. Try going around Southall and seeing for yourself"

Glen Gayle, another support worker, added: "Young people have different issues. It's about finding out what they really like doing and channelling their energies into that. We need to get away from adults telling young people what they want."

Mr Evans vowed to speak to Ealing Council about access to sports facilities.

He said: "We need investment in activities as a country. If I can set something up with the council to talk about these issues then I will."

Ealing Drug Education Project Activities

The Ealing Drug Education Project (EDEP) has a varied programme and schedule of activities. More info...

Drug education in different languages

Help yourself to help your community

DAAP ran its 5th four day volunteer training programme in December 2006 and January 2007. This was aimed at training community inter-acters and covered all aspects of addiction, working with diverse communities, equality, diversity and child protection issues.

Evaluation from participants

I learnt so much. I did not know about other cultures and how much I did not know till today
So much knowledge and development for us. Thank you to Perminder for making it so good!
I must work actively for my community now- thanks to DAAP
I am rearing to go
I learnt so much about myself, what I thought I knew!

See the latest 2006/07 Volunteer Training Programme photos

See the previous 2005 Volunteer Training Programme photos

Any one interested in training to be a community inter-acter should contact DAAP on [email protected] or Tel: 0208 843 0945

Help with Drug, Alcohol and Khat Issues

Need help with drug and alcohol? Contact FRANK the national help line available 24 hours a day every day on tel 0800 776600

email [email protected]

or visit www.talktofrank.com

Contact Drug and Alcohol Action Programme Ltd

Tel: 0208 843 0945 or email us to access help in different languages. We can:

Support through talk therapy
Motivational support
Support activities
Referral to appropriate services

For help with Domestic Violence contact

Women's Aid Crisis Line on Tel: 08457 023 468