A CHARITY wants to crack down on binge drinking at Asian weddings with a 'name and shame' scheme.
Southall-based charity Drug and Alcohol Action Programme (DAAP) said it will be teaming up with Gurdwaras in the area to help prevent alcohol abuse at Asian – particularly Sikh - weddings.
Perminder Dhillon, the charity’s chief executive officer, said that it is no longer acceptable to ignore the dangerous levels of alcohol drinking at these events.
And she added there is a mistaken view in Asian communities that religious and cultural backgrounds act as a barrier to the kind of drunken scenes so often seen in so many town centres all over the country.
She said: "Many parents feel pressurized to provide a huge quantity of alcohol at weddings even if they themselves are non-drinkers.
"It is seen as cool, fashionable, a sign of being modern and certainly a yardstick to measure the amount of wealth been lavished at the wedding.
"Our message is simple - name and shame those who do this. We will not be afraid to put these examples up on our website and condemn them.
"As a community, we really have to take our collective heads out of the sand and acknowledge that there is a problem with excessive drinking."
She added DAAP has teamed up with the local Sikh temples to organise a day of action in January 2010 to be held in Southall.
For further information about this and DAAP’s other work, please telephone 0208 843 0945 or email [email protected]
