The Ministry of Health will this week extend free counselling sessions for persons who are substance abusers, with the view to promoting awareness and effectively addressing the problem, which has been listed as one of the priority mental health areas.The sessions, according to ministry officials will commence today at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation in the new Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre located next to the Psychiatric Department. Introductory counselling will be offered.It is expected that some persons who access the sessions during this week (June 23 – 27) will become clients of the Centre,Cheap Jerseys NFL China, which is slated to be officially opened on July 15.The week of activities will be undertaken by staffers of the ministry’s Drug Demand Reduction Unit, and will target abusers of marijuana, cocaine,NFL Jerseys China, alcohol and tobacco.The Drug Demand Reduction Unit was established by the Ministry of Health last year,Wholesale Cheap Jerseys, and is presently headed by Ms. Sheranne Isaacs. The unit is located within the Adolescent and Young Adult Health and Wellness Programme of the Ministry of Health.Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, during a meeting with the staffers on Friday to launch the activities, charged them to become robust advocates for the banning of all advertisements for tobacco and alcohol.It is the belief of the minister that many Guyanese have not grasped the critical role that substance abuse plays in under-development locally.According to him, too many people think that substance abuse relates to the use of marijuana, cocaine and other drugs. He noted that while those are significant problems, they are in fact outweighed by the rampant use of tobacco and alcohol.In the case of alcohol,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, the use of marijuana, cocaine and other drugs, the minister explained that the increasing violence, particularly against women and children,Cheap Jerseys Authentic, is directly related to the harmful use of these substances.As such, he urged his staff to ensure that people have the proper perspective of substance abuse.He further lauded the work being done by the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security in highlighting the problem of violence against women and children, and in its Stamp It Out campaign,Cheap Jerseys From China, which addresses sexual abuse and violence against children and young women. He cited the harmful use of alcohol as one of the causative factors in such cases.The minister also applauded the efforts of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Police Traffic Department in addressing the safer use of the roadways.? Road safety, too, he cited as one of the areas that alcohol use is affecting.He is of the opinion that greater emphasis must be placed on stamping out drinking and driving, even insisting that there should be zero-tolerance for drinking and driving.