Harmony Group Blog

Coffee – the 9 to 5 drug of choice

shu-aib — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 07:57:23 +0000

Caffein Addiction (Part 1) Coffee is a widely used beverage and cooking ingredient. Its versatility is due to several factors, such as abundance of international supply, lack of alcohol content, and ease of preparation. Culturally, it is very easy to accommodate. Cultures which prohibit alcohol do not prohibit coffee and anyone who has the equipment [...]

The empty-bottle addiction – glue-sniffing

shu-aib — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 21:43:54 +0000

Urban areas are notorious for various things, among them vagrancy, homelessness, and poverty. And homeless people are, in turn, notorious for certain things too, one of which is substance abuse. The prevalence of cheap alcohol in South Africa makes alcoholism common among those who live on the streets, but not all of them are old [...]

Standing against a tree with an apple on your head – Speeding Part 2

shu-aib — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:10:37 +0000

In South Africa, the official road safety promotion initiative is known as the Arrive Alive campaign. The organization employs various measures in order to raise awareness of road safety issues and encourage drivers to be more responsible. One of these measures is a substantial argument that speed kills. This is a controversial sentence in South [...]

Bob Dylan’s nose – a common danger of cocaine

shu-aib — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:08:46 +0000

“Everybody must get stoned” – Bob Dylan, Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 Bob Dylan is a canonised singer and composer in the Western music tradition. He has generated 34 studio albums and 58 singles, including such classics as The Times They Are a-Changin’ and Blowin’ in the Wind. Although he has not been [...]

Clocking the rush – addicted to speed

shu-aib — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:00:44 +0000

Most countries of the world have instituted some form of speed limit on their public roads. The limit may vary from country to country, but the principle of restricting the speed of vehicles applies. In defence of high speed limits or general speeding, some people may raise the issue of the “autobahns” in Germany. These [...]

When you have too much on your plate

shu-aib — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:48:30 +0000

Despite the level of poverty in South Africa, there is a substantial proportion of the population who are either overweight or obese. The rough figures indicate that approximately half of all women and a quarter of all men in South Africa are overweight, although not all of them to the point of obesity. Historical data [...]

Getting South Africa onto the water wagon

shu-aib — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:12:20 +0000

Following the article a couple of weeks ago about the opposition to using the Drager breathalyser in South Africa, the Department of Transport has announced that soon drivers in South Africa may not be allowed to have any alcohol concentration in their blood at all. The Department is interested in abolishing the legal blood alcohol [...]

Alcohol – the deficiency in South African social education

shu-aib — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:27:59 +0000

Over the last two weeks, I have spent a considerable amount of time discussing the prevalence and nature of alcohol consumption and abuse in South Africa. I have presented some weighty figures and I have also tried to explain how those figures translate into practical implications for ordinary people in South African society. This week, [...]

Keeping the media sober

shu-aib — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:42:52 +0000

“The driving factor behind this [situation] is alcohol, the harmful effects of alcohol. We’re not going to pull back about the issue of alcohol control, including the banning on advertising of alcohol. It’s just a matter of time – it’s not an issue of whether, it’s an issue of when.” - Minister Aaron Motsoaledi [...]

The colour of your blood – alcohol abuse in South Africa

shu-aib — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:32:17 +0000

People in South Africa, probably like people in other parts of the world, like to symbolise their patriotism or support for a specific cause by referring to their blood, and more specifically, to the colour of their blood. So, for example, we have a social movement advocating non-racialism with the slogan “My blood is green”. [...]