The St George Community Drug Action Team (CDAT) is urging the community to put safety first this Easter long weekend.
CDAT chairwoman Valentina Angelovska said research revealed that Australians liked to go overboard with their alcohol consumption on long weekends.
‘‘Research shows us that acute alcohol intoxication cases requiring ambulance, emergency department and hospital in-patient treatment increase substantially on the day preceding public holidays and other major social events,’’ Ms Angelovska said.
‘‘Another concern we have is the amount of people who think it’s okay to drink and drive, even with all of the education around in the last 10 years.
‘‘If you take the risk you have a high probability of being caught, hurting yourself - or worse still, hurting someone else.’’
Ms Angelovska said the St George region had a higher than the state average for alcohol attributable hospitalisations — 675 per 100,000 people in South East Sydney Local Health District.
Between April 2013 and March 2014 there were 3,825 alcohol-related assaults on licensed premises in NSW.
‘‘Alcohol-fuelled violence is a real issue in Sydney and people need to keep each other safer and support their friends/family,’’ she said.
Ms Angelovska suggested a number of stay safe ideas including: alternating water and soft drinks between alcoholic drinks; drinking more slowly; making positive choices rather than following peer groups; planning a safe way of getting home; eating well before drinking; doing an activity while celebrating such as playing pool or dancing; and encouraging friends and family to consume safer levels of alcohol.
Community Drug Action Teams are groups of volunteers who work together to minimise and prevent the harmful use of alcohol and other drugs in their neighbourhoods.
More information at http://www.adf.org.au/
