Alcohol abuse affects everyone - and it will take a community effort to solve it, a rally to launch Alcohol Awareness Month was told yesterday.

After reading a proclamation declaring the theme of the month as "Recovery: It's a family affair - and everyone is invited", on the City Hall steps, Acting Premier Eugene Cox said: "Alcoholism is not an issue of morality or willpower - it is a public health issue.

"This year we want to encourage the Bermudian community to focus on the role the family plays in the recovery of an alcoholic and also to seek help first."

Opposition Leader Dr. Grant Gibbons said the United Bermuda Party was pleased to be a part of Alcohol Awareness month and said the theme was very important.

"This is no longer someone else's problem or something to be hidden in the dark covers of the night - we must stand together as a community on the road to recovery, no RSVP is required", National Liberal Party leader Dessaline Waldron said.

Drinking habit statistics from the Bermuda Department of Health's Adult Wellness Report 1999 showed that 77 percent of people drank more than three or more drinks at one time, and 12 percent of the population were abusers.

The Wellness report shows that 56 percent of adults binged at least once in the past month, 20 percent of adults reported that alcohol had a harmful effect on their health, 70 percent feel that drinking and driving is a big problem and 87.2 percent of adults would favour a ban on alcohol sales at youth events.

The PRIDE Bermuda Performance team had the audience do an energising exercise and also performed a skit for the crowd with the moral being when one has been drinking, one is not 'cool', but simply drunk.