by RICKY JORDAN

AN ALCOHOLIC DRINK stronger than most others on the local market will hit the shelves for Crop-Over 2006.

And while its distributor, Banks (Barbados) Breweries, is anticipating a successful launch of the extra strong product when the Banks Cable & Wireless Cavalcades start next week, it is not being welcomed by anti-drug advocates.

Head of the National Committee for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (NCPADD), Victor Roach, yesterday expressed grave concern that a stronger brew would obviously lead to quicker intoxication.

"We know that people, depending on the level of alcohol consumed, can range from feelings of euphoria, to confusion, stupor, coma and death. So to put an extra strong brew on the market at a peak time for alcohol consumption is a recipe for disaster," he said.

"We're primarily concerned about minors because not enough attention is paid to the selling of alcohol to them," he added, noting that NCPADD's concerns also extended to those with a history of alcoholism and others who might be already intoxicated during the Crop-Over events.

He therefore called on the brewery and National Cultural Foundation (NCF) to sit with bodies like the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) and NCPADD as a matter of urgency.

NCSA manager Tessa Chaderton-Shaw, who is attending a conference in Washington D.C., said while she didn't want to say too much on the issue at this time, she was concerned about minors and alcohol as well.

"Given the problems we have with regular alcoholic beverages, I'm particularly concerned about under-age consumption of alcohol," she said.

At an NCSA seminar held in March, a National HIV-AIDS Commission survey showed that the Fore-Day Morning Jam, one of Crop-Over's main events, featured sexual activity and alcohol abuse. Two deaths, in 2003 and last year, have resulted from that event.

Meanwhile, Banks Holdings sales manager, Rosalind Robinson, said yesterday the brewery was "in the process of putting together, with its marketing department, an extra strong brew".

Asked what measures were in place to deal with the introduction of a stronger alcoholic brew coming on the market, chief executive officer of the NCF, Ian Estwick, said the cavalcades had been violence free in their last three seasons.

"We're sure that people will drink responsibly and we really don't anticipate any problems," he said.

NCF's corporate communications specialist Penny Gomez said a risk assessment of Crop-Over mass events was done yearly by the NCF and its emergency partners, including the Defence Force, Ambulance Service and Royal Barbados Police Force.

The 11 parish cavalcades, for which 137 songs have been submitted, start next week Friday at the NCF carpark at 6:30 p.m.