BANNED BEV

Botswana recently reported an increase in the number of people infected with COVID-19 and consequently the number of people losing their lives due to complications related to the virus has also increased. As a result, some measures were put in place to avert this increase; one of these measures has been to suspend the sale of alcohol.

Generally, the use of alcohol poses some risk factors to contracting and spreading COVID-19, especially in public spaces. Using alcohol lowers your inhibitions; this means that your reasoning and judgement capacity is compromised. You are likely to touch many surfaces and not sanitise or wash your hands appropriately. When you are drinking, it is difficult to observe social distancing as alcohol often makes people very sociable.

Some people tend to share quarts ( khote) and this may easily transmit the virus from one person to the next and it would not be easy to put on a face mask and drink at the same time. Over and above the fore-mentioned reasons, the abuse of alcohol (as well as other substances) is known to weaken or suppress the immune system therefore making you vulnerable to the adverse effects of COVID-19.

As we have experienced during previous restrictions of alcohol sale due the above mentioned reasons, some people continue to sell it unlawfully. From home made brews, expired alcohol, to fake brands; opportunists have taken advantage of the restrictions to sell alcohol.

Since the first lockdown, social media has been used to spread recipes on how to make your own alcohol at home. This is very risky since there is no viable testing for the safety of such brews. Some additives are used in the process of making the brews and these may be harmful to your health. There is no set shelf life for these brews and additionally some of them continue to ferment over time or due to natural conditions like heat making them more dangerous to consume.

There are also reports of a tendency to sell known brands of alcohol more especially spirits and whiskeys through “connections”. Even though some may be selling authentic brands, some pass fake brands as the original. Selling of alcohol is currently unlawful in both contexts but those selling fake alcohol pose more risk to consumers. These spirits are made in homemade labs with no adherence to any safety standard. These are as well harmful and may cause undesired consequences to unaware consumers. As a result of the scarcity of alcohol, there has been an increase in reports of unlawful selling at very inflated prices to maximise profits.

In conclusion, buying alcohol when it is restricted is very risky; it may attract fines from law enforcers and may be risky to you as a consumer. If you are pressured to buy alcohol at this time or you are unable to wait for the lifting of the restrictions, then you may have a problem.

This time may be a good time for you to gain control of your use of alcohol; you can challenge yourself to stay sober until the restriction is lifted and you can additionally explore other ways of having a good time or enjoying yourself without drinking alcohol. It may not be easy but it is possible.

Choose to stay safe during this time and protect yourself and your loved ones.

If you think that you might have a substance abuse problem, or if you have a friend or family member who does, we encourage you to seek help. For some, it can mean the difference between life and death. You can find BOSASNET on Facebook, visit us on www.bosasnet.com, news.thevoicebw.com or call us on 3959119 or 72659891 for more information.