By Colleen Barilae – EM TV News, Lae
Community leaders in Lae’s are calling for a stop to backyard homebrew production in the city.
Lae District’s Ahi and Lae Urban LLG community leaders have realised how much violence homemade alcohol has caused homes and families.
The district’s Law and Order Committee are backing this move by imposing a K300 reward for reports of home brewing activities.
Community leaders have called on youths to stop producing and consuming homebrew in their homes,.
It follows many reported cases of community violence caused by alcohol consumption.
Some of those who attended, former homebrew consumers, have spoken out after realising the disadvantages which homemade alcohol had brought to their families.
Stanley Bane was one of them, and is now a law and order committee member with Lae District.
“If you know you’re a youth involved in such activities, try quit from it and make a better living instead,” he said.
Lae’s law and order committee aims to reduce homebrew circulation by imposing a K300 cash reward for reports of anyone found producing and selling this homemade alcohol.
Lae District Law and Order Committee Chairman, Sam Oyaya, said a public awareness session will be staged later in February to introduce this new community rule.
“We’re ready to evict whomsoever producing homebrew, it is the root of all problems in the city, I encourage everyone to stop from it,” Oyaya said.
The district courts have been imposing tough penalties on offenders.
Drug use and sale and the illegal production of alcohol carry a mandatory sentence of up to nine months.
But, this has done little to ease the problem.
