National disaster of Russia
Alcoholism is a national disaster in Russia. But past efforts to control abuse of vodka in Russia occurred to be politically unpopular.
At a first sight, it might not seem like a good idea to copy the methods of Mikhail Gorbachev – a leader whom Russians regard as the most disastrous failure in living memory.
Yet President appears determined to copy a page from the playbook of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose policies led to the collapse of the USSR, by attempting to force Russians to cut back on their catastrophically high consumption of vodka.
Experts say the problem has grown so awful that the Kremlin has little alternative, even though it is well known that Mr. Gorbachev’s efforts to deprive Russians of their vodka led to an explosion of public outrage in period of perestroika reforms. Alcoholism is a “national disaster,” Mr. Medvedev said in a recent statement. “The alcohol consumption we have is colossal. I have been astonished to find that we drink more now than we did in the 1990’s, even though those were very tough times,” he said.
According to the Russian Ministry of Health, pure alcohol consumption in Russia per person including babies is twice the level the World Health Organization describes as the danger level and consists of 6-7 bottles of vodka per month (calculation is mine – Galina Toktalieva) Half of all Russian deaths between the ages of 15 and 54 can be attributed to alcohol-related causes.
Economic crisis has dampened the public mood and led to over 10 percent unemployment, a good reason for increased drinking, say experts.
But surveys still show Mikhail Gorbachev is still one of the most unpopular public figures in Russia, who in 1985 simply ordered liquor shops shut down, distilleries closed and vineyards liquidated.
While Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol drive may have contributed to his political downfall, public health experts look back on it more kindly than historians do.
“Gorbachev’s campaign saved over a million lives,” health experts say. “Its defect was the lack of preparation, absence of gradual and systematic effort.”
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, edited by Galina Toktalieva
Photo of Mikhail Gorbachev by Anni Leibovitz
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