Regulating Underage Use of Alcohol & Tobacco
Protecting Gambian youth
Alcohol and tobacco do not become less harmful because they are widely available or socially normalised. They remain among the most documented causes of preventable disease, school dropout, family breakdown, and early death in countries across the world. In The Gambia today, bars, local shops, and market vendors sell to whoever has money, regardless of age. There are no functioning age verification systems. There is no retailer accountability framework. Tobacco is sold without the plain packaging, graphic health warnings, or retailer licensing that have driven down youth smoking rates in countries across the world. Young people who begin drinking or smoking in adolescence are significantly more likely to experience lower academic performance, higher rates of school dropout, and long-term health conditions that burden the national healthcare system for decades. The interaction between substance use and the backway phenomenon is also documented: young men who use alcohol and drugs heavily are disproportionately represented among those who attempt irregular migration. The regulatory framework to address this is not complex. Countries that have reduced youth substance use most effectively have done so through a combination of clear and enforced age limits, retailer accountability, public education, and community engagement. All of these tools are available to The Gambia. The National Builders Party will deploy them all.
A Gambia where no child or teenager can buy alcohol or tobacco without the retailer being penalised. Where schools, health facilities, parks, and markets are formally designated smoke-free and alcohol-free zones, enforced not just on paper but in practice. Where every retailer knows the law, has signed the compliance declaration, and has something real to lose from breaking it. Where community leaders, parents, teachers, imams, pastors, and traditional authorities are active partners in protecting the young people in their communities. Where the next generation of Gambians reaches adulthood healthier, more focused, and more capable of contributing to this nation's development. The strength of a nation depends on the health, discipline, and wellbeing of its young people. The National Builders Party will protect them.
The NBP will enact a Youth Protection from Alcohol and Tobacco Act establishing the minimum legal age of 18 for purchasing and consuming alcohol, tobacco, and all nicotine products, and making the sale of any of these to a person under 18 a criminal offence for the seller.
The minimum age of 18 will apply to all forms of alcohol and all tobacco and nicotine products including cigarettes, shisha, smokeless tobacco, and electronic cigarettes. Sale to a person under 18 will be a criminal offence carrying a defined fine for a first offence and licence revocation for repeat offences. Proxy purchasing, where an adult buys alcohol or tobacco on behalf of a minor with knowledge of that intent, will also be an offence. Online and mobile money sales of alcohol or tobacco will require age verification before any transaction is processed. All alcohol and tobacco products sold in The Gambia will carry standardised graphic health warnings approved by the Ministry of Health, displayed in English and the two most widely spoken Gambian national languages.
The NBP will require every business that sells alcohol or tobacco to hold a valid annual Retailer Licence and to operate a mandatory Check ID system, making age verification a legal obligation rather than a voluntary practice.
The Retailer Licence will be issued by the Public Safety and Code Enforcement Administration and renewed annually. Every licensed retailer must display their licence visibly, display standardised Check ID signage at every point of sale, and verify the age of any customer who appears under 25. Mandatory compliance training will be provided to all existing alcohol and tobacco retailers in Year 1. Training will cover the age limit law, the Check ID procedure, the consequences of violations, and how to handle situations where a customer becomes aggressive about being refused. A compliance declaration signed by the business owner will form part of the licence application and renewal. Retailers who sell to minors will face escalating consequences: a substantial fine for a first offence, a temporary licence suspension for a second offence, and permanent licence revocation for a third. Operating without a valid licence will itself be a criminal offence.
The NBP will give the Public Safety and Code Enforcement Administration the mandate, the resources, and the authority to inspect, test, and penalise retailers who sell alcohol or tobacco to children, with quarterly compliance inspections and regular test purchasing operations in high-risk areas.
PSCEA inspectors will conduct quarterly compliance inspections across all regions, beginning in Year 1 with all major towns and expanding to full national coverage by Year 3. Test purchasing operations using young persons acting under PSCEA supervision will be used to identify retailers who are non-compliant. The national digital crime database will record all alcohol and tobacco licence violations, enabling the PSCEA to identify repeat offenders and escalate enforcement accordingly. An Annual Compliance Report, published each year and broken down by region, will give the public, community leaders, and the National Assembly full transparency on which areas are compliant and which require intensified enforcement. The penalty structure will be reviewed after three years of enforcement experience and adjusted where evidence indicates it is insufficiently deterrent.
The NBP will formally designate all schools, health facilities, parks, playgrounds, markets, and public transport stops as smoke-free and alcohol-free zones, with visible signage, active enforcement, and real consequences for violations.
The Youth Protection Act will provide the legal basis for zone designations, with the PSCEA responsible for installation of standardised signage and enforcement of the rules. All schools will be designated smoke-free and alcohol-free zones extending to their boundaries and immediate surroundings, with enforcement coordinated between PSCEA, school management, and the Gambia Police Force community policing units. Health facilities, parks, playgrounds, and public transport stops will be similarly designated. Vendors operating within or immediately adjacent to designated zones will be prohibited from selling alcohol or tobacco products. A public reporting mechanism will allow citizens to report zone violations directly to the PSCEA, building community participation in the enforcement programme.
The NBP will launch a sustained national public awareness campaign on the health risks of early alcohol and tobacco use, delivered through radio, television, social media, schools, markets, mosques, churches, and community gatherings in all major Gambian national languages.
The campaign will be designed with input from young Gambians, health professionals, teachers, religious leaders, and community elders to ensure that messaging is culturally appropriate, credible, and honest about the documented consequences of early substance use, including its relationship to school dropout, health deterioration, and vulnerability to exploitation and irregular migration. Messaging will be simple, direct, and widely accessible, using flyers, posters, and visual materials displayed in stores, markets, schools, clinics, and youth centres. A dedicated youth-facing campaign strand, designed by and for young Gambians, will address peer pressure, social norms around drinking and smoking, and the connection between substance use and the backway. Messaging will be refreshed annually to remain relevant and engaging.
The NBP will incorporate substance use prevention education into the national school curriculum from primary through secondary level, giving every Gambian child the knowledge and skills to understand and resist the health risks of early alcohol and tobacco use.
Substance use prevention content will be developed as a strand within the health and physical wellbeing pillar of the new national curriculum, taught at age-appropriate levels from upper primary through senior secondary school. Content will cover the physical health effects of alcohol and tobacco, the documented impact on academic performance and brain development in adolescence, how to recognize and respond to peer pressure, the law and the consequences of underage purchase, and the connection between substance dependency and vulnerability to exploitation. Youth counselling and substance use support services will be integrated into school health services by Year 3, providing accessible, non-stigmatizing support for young people who are already using or who have family members affected by substance use.
The NBP will engage traditional leaders, imams, pastors, community elders, and parents as formal partners in youth protection, because no government programme is as powerful as a community that considers the protection of its children a shared responsibility.
A Community Prevention Partnership Programme, launched in Year 2, will work with traditional leaders and religious authorities in every district to deliver locally led messaging on youth substance use through community meetings, Friday sermons, Sunday services, and community gatherings. Traditional leaders will be supported with materials, training, and direct PSCEA contact points so that they can report violations in their communities and contribute to the local enforcement environment. Parent engagement programmes delivered through schools will equip families with the knowledge and language to have honest conversations with their children about alcohol and tobacco. Community Champions in each district will model and promote protective attitudes toward young people in the everyday fabric of community life.
The National Builders Party will establish a dedicated National Youth Substance Use Prevention Fund to finance the public awareness campaign, community partnerships, school curriculum integration, youth counselling services, and enforcement infrastructure on a sustained annual basis.
The Fund will be financed from a combination of general budget allocation, a levy on alcohol and tobacco retailers as part of the licensing fee structure, and contributions from international health development partners. Annual expenditure and impact reports will be published, giving the public, the National Assembly, and development partners full visibility of how resources are being used and what outcomes they are producing. A youth-led peer education programme, funded from the Prevention Fund, will train young Gambians to deliver substance use prevention messaging among their peers, building the youth-to-youth communication that is often the most effective channel for changing attitudes and behaviours. The five-year review of youth substance use trends, published in Year 5, will assess progress against the baseline established in Year 1 and guide the next phase of investment.
For Parents and Families
The law will be on your side. Every retailer in your community will be required to check ID and refuse sale to anyone under 18. Schools, parks, and markets will be formally designated smoke-free and alcohol-free zones with real enforcement. Community leaders and religious authorities will be equipped and supported as active partners in protecting young people. You will not be alone in this. The government will be working alongside you, not leaving the responsibility to you alone.
For Young Gambians
This policy is about protecting your future, not lecturing you. The documented consequences of early alcohol and tobacco use are real: lower academic performance, higher dropout rates, long-term health damage, and greater vulnerability to exploitation. The school curriculum will give you honest information. Youth counselling services will be available without stigma. A peer education programme will be run by young Gambians for young Gambians. The goal is not to treat you as a problem to be managed. It is to give you the information and the environment to make choices that protect the future you are building.
For Every Family
A generation that reaches adulthood healthier, more academically prepared, and more resistant to exploitation is a generation that builds a stronger economy, places less burden on the national healthcare system, and is more resistant to the conditions that push young men toward the backway. The investment in youth protection is also an investment in national productivity, public health, and the future workforce that will sustain The Gambia's development. Protecting children is not a niche policy. It is the foundation of every other promise in this manifesto.
No child in The Gambia should be able to walk into a shop and buy a cigarette or a bottle of alcohol. That statement should not require a policy document. It should be the operating norm of every retailer in the country, backed by a licence they do not want to lose and a community that considers the protection of its children a shared responsibility. Under the National Builders Party, the law will be clear. The minimum age is 18. The licence is required. The Check ID procedure is mandatory. The smoke-free zones are enforced. The awareness campaign is sustained. The school curriculum is honest. The community partnerships are real. And the Annual Compliance Report means that every Gambian can see, by region and by district, whether the rules are being followed. Gambian youth deserve a government that protects them. The National Builders Party will be that government.
The strength of a nation depends on the health, discipline, and wellbeing of its young people. A government that protects its children from preventable harm is a government that is building its own future. The National Builders Party will protect Gambian youth with the full force of the law, the full reach of the school system, and the full partnership of every community.
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