Fighting Alcohol Abuse Through Liquor Law Enforcement

The painful effects of alcohol abuse can be far-reaching, pervasively affecting generations within households when left unchecked.

Increasingly, jurisdictions are expected to establish agencies to combat activities that can foster environments for drug and alcohol abuse.

In Saint Lucia, one such key player is the Customs and Excise Department. The department’s liquor license officers are tasked with enforcing the Liquor License Act, Cap. 13.17, which prohibits the illegal sale of alcohol on the island.

“As customs, we do an agency function. District court is the one who is responsible for approving liquor licenses for people. So, what I do as a Liquor License Officer, my unit, we go out, we investigate and we ensure people are complying with the law which says that you cannot operate or sell liquor without a liquor license,” explained Christopher Stevens, Customs Inspector in charge of Liquor Licensing.

It is ongoing work that, according to Stevens, continues despite any public perception that officials overlook illegal liquor sales. Stevens countered this notion, saying, “People who are doing that, once we know we go and we close them down. We enforce the law; we seize the liquor. We work in collaboration with the police… we may not be able to go to every hole at once, but eventually, we will get to you.”

He noted that sifting out any other practices that may be unlawful and unethical, like sales to minors, is beyond the department’s remit as they are not present during actual sales.

Liquor License Officers, Stevens noted, are on the road an average of four days a week, sometimes more. This schedule is designed to help them keep track of issues, especially with sellers who may allow their licenses to expire.

“We try to target places by area or check our system to see who’s owing, and then we go after those people. Sometimes when you go to these people, they tell you, ‘Hey, you know this person’s selling from their home?’ Then we go to that other person,” Stevens explained.

The department also has an automated system that enables quick verification of a seller’s license status by entering their name.

Stevens says people usually comply if found without a license: “They normally close shop and go and get their affairs in order.”

On the other hand, procrastination is something he does encounter. “It’s just that sometimes people will procrastinate in going to pay. They tell you things are hard, but then you tell them that the law is the law; you cannot allow them to be breaking the law,” Stevens explained adding, “We try to meet people halfway. Sometimes we tell them if they cannot pay the full year, we want them to pay it in half. Then try to make up the money and come back to pay for the other six months, and we keep track of those people.”

In cases of noncompliance, individuals can face prosecution and have their liquor seized, a process that usually involves the police. Police officers also have the authority to enforce and conduct seizures independently.

Natasha Lloyd-Felix, Director of the Substance Abuse Advisory Council Secretariat (SAACC), an agency mandated to focus on public health and protect the public against substance-related risks, commented on the Customs and Excise Department’s work.

She stated in part, “Compliance is critical if we’re looking at adherence to guidelines, to policies, to protocols, and those are in place to protect our consuming public. Alcohol is a legal substance, but there are parameters for use and for access, and so this action on the part of the Customs and Excise Department is … also an effort to ensure that purchase [and] sale are done as per guidelines and we do not incur any risks, and we don’t cause any added burden to the state via fallout from alcohol misuse or even abuse of the product. The secretariat is fully supportive and fully thankful and grateful for the efforts of our sister agency, as we are all partners in this national effort to ensure that we do not incur any further harm to our public.”

Highlighting the harmful consequences of excessive alcohol consumption, Lloyd-Felix added, “Alcohol is known to be the most abused substance in Saint Lucia, and we can just look around us to see the effects and impacts of alcohol misuse within our society. We live the story in our families, in our communities, sometimes even in our workplaces, where we see the fallout of it, and so it’s very timely and necessary that we scale up our efforts collectively, not only as single agents and institutions but collectively, to ensure that we make a difference and have improved outcomes for health and well-being.”