As part of its alcohol addiction prevention educational programme, Cēsu alus, the largest operating brewery in Latvia, has educated more than 800 pupils in 17 Latvian secondary schools since 2012. Addiction prevention is something many youths don’t take seriously enough or don’t want to discuss at school or with their parents; therefore, the Cēsu alus initiative aims to make this information readily available and captivating for youths by developing an interactive measure called Be INdependent! in cooperation with the Be Free Addiction Prevention Association.

Agita Baltbārde, Public Relations Manager at AS Cēsu alus, says: “As a beer producer, Cēsu alus has the social responsibility to implement alcohol addiction prevention measures as a long-term contribution to building a responsible society. We believe that responsible and moderate beer and alcohol consumption in a grown-up society can be achieved much more efficiently with long-term prevention and educational measures. Therefore, in order to increase our contribution to the education of the public and improve the availability of information on addiction prevention, we are organising alcohol addiction prevention measures targeted at the youth audience encouraging them to think about alcohol addiction prevention issues.”

The Be INdependent! project has so far educated a total of 870 secondary school pupils in Latvia:

• in 2012, the first event in Cēsis was targeted at 10th grade pupils from the schools Cēsis;
• in 2013, the event in Daugavpils Municipality gathered secondary school pupils from the Latgale region: from secondary schools of Zemgale, Vabole, Špoģi, Svente, Saliena and Medums;
• in 2014, we educated secondary school pupils from the Zemgale region: from Jelgava State Gymnasium, Spīdola Gymnasium, Secondary School No. 4 and Jelgava Technical College;
• in November 2015, with an event in Aizpute we educated secondary school pupils from the Kurzeme region: from the secondary schools of Aizpute, Vaiņode and Nīca and the Grobiņa Gymnasium.

During the event, pupils are informed about alcohol addiction prevention in a comprehensible manner by engaging them in a practical seminar/discussion and entertaining physical activities (role-plays and relays) in order to spark their interest and motivate them to think about the subject.

Event organiser and author of the initiative is Cēsu alus brewery. The annual event is implemented with the support of the Be Free Addiction Prevention Association, regional educational institutions, municipal governments and educational administrations.