Alcohol awareness course at marae
A group of people from Maungarongo Kokiri's T.A.P.S. programme have been learning about alcohol recently, as part of a "life skills" learning programme. The course comes under the community alcohol awareness programme which has been successful in Wanganui. Health Nurse Leigh Berry is the co-ordi-nator for the course with help from Traffic Officer Ian Harrison and TAPS tutor Mark McNeill. Topics in the course include alcohol as a problem, the chemical effects and body functions, alcohol's influence on driving and legislation and enforcement concerning alcohol. One of the aims of CAAP is to separate fact from fallacy concerning alcohol and its effects. Fallacies such as "you can easily tell who is an alcoholic - he looks like a deadbeat",
"you sober up quickly with black coffee and a cold shower" and "it takes an hour or two for alcohol to have an effect on you". Facts that are discussed are: alcohol IS a drug, alcoholic drinks can be fattening and alcohol abuse is a major health problem in New Zealand. Acceptable reasons for drinking is another topic discussed. Reasons such as curiosity, celebration, peer pressure, to cope with problems, to relieve pain and to be sociable are assessed for acceptability. A large part of the course is set aside to evaluate the effects of alcohol on driving, such as impaired judgement, vision, co-ordi-
nation skills, reactions and decision making. The trainees looked at ways they could avert problem situations for guests who might drive away from a party under the influence of alcohol. Tutor Mark McNeill said the course has been a total success as far as participation is concemed. He said the basis of a lot of people's problems is a lack of "life skills" such as how to deal with and control alcohol. Traffic Officer Ian Harrison said the CAAP course was an opportunity not to be missed. "Far too large a proportion of road accidents are alcohol related in this area" he said.
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Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 13, 25 August 1987, Page 17
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330Alcohol awareness course at marae Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 13, 25 August 1987, Page 17
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