High Rates of Men’s Death in Russia
In these pictures, we can see a man holding a bottle of a bath lotion called Boyaryshnik which contains a high percentage of alcohol and the cost is cheap. The continuing crisis in Russia has made people be creative and find an inexpensive way to be drunk. In December 2016, 78 people died after drinking the liquid from this bottle, because of the high level of methanol in this drink. This year, surrogate alcohol consumption in Russia is estimated at 20% of the country’s total level. Russian people, mostly men, were buying and consuming many different types of alcohol substitutes such as medical ethanol, window cleaner, and perfume. According to researchers, 12 million Russians regularly ingest such surrogates. The deaths in Irkutsk prove how dangerous a cheap alcohol substitute can be. The 10 to 12 million Russians that drink this type of surrogate alcohol do so because they can't afford to buy vodka or other alcoholic drinks.
According to BBC News, the high number of early deaths for Russian men is mainly due to drinking too much alcohol, particularly vodka. Based on the research 25% of Russian men die before they are 55 years old, and their deaths are alcohol-related. The average Russian adult will drink 20 liters of vodka per year, and this amount is one of the highest in the world.
THE HISTORY OF CONSUMPTION
Historically, nearly 90 % of alcohol consumed in Russia was in the form of spirits (vodka), and drinking pattern was typically in binges. From 1540 widespread alcohol consumption was encouraged by Ivan IV who began to establish kabaks (where spirits were sold), and the revenue went directly to a royal family treasury. Only the guardsmen could go to it, and only on Holy Week and Christmas did he allow the people to have fun in kabaks, the drunks were sent to prison at any other time. If the person was caught drunk again, he was beaten with batog — a stick with a cut-off end, and if the drunkard continued, the person was sent to a most severe punishment which often leads to death. The person was put in a barrel of alcohol and marinated alive.
Only under Peter I the commoners began to walk into kabaks, which brought tangible income to the state treasure. In the era of Peter I, when he and his entourage were consciously drunk, it was believed that drinking was a must, and the consequences were attributed to the person himself.
The USSR of the Brezhnev era is a country of drinking people. To be convinced of this, it is enough to turn to statistics. So, in the 1960s, an ordinary Soviet citizen drank an average of 4.6 liters of alcohol per year, and by the “stagnant” 1970s this figure had almost doubled — to 8.45 liters, and by the early 1980s — this figure reached 10.6 liters.
It turns out that in a year in the early 1980s, the average person drank 53 bottles of vodka or 118 bottles of wine. And this is the “average temperature in the hospital” because there were people who were completely nondrinking or drinking very rarely. And if we add to this official figure the consumption of moonshine, home-made liqueurs, and non-target liquids like cologne or glasswasher, then the real picture looks shocking — the official figure can be multiplied by 1.5–2 times.
THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUNKENNESS
The first popular anti-alcohol movements appeared in the middle of the 19th century. They fought not with drunkenness as such, but with low-quality alcohol. Prohibition was the first in the history of Russia to be adopted by Nicholas II. He wanted to seriously transform the drinking habits of his subjects, so three months before the outbreak of the First World War, the Ministry of Internal Affairs banned the sale of vodka in the event of hostilities. In November of 1917 order was issued by the Military Revolutionary Council stating that the production of alcohol and all kinds of alcoholic beverages is prohibited until a special order. After the revolution, in 1918, the government changed, the dry law was in effect. Lenin signed a decree banning not only the production but also the sale of any alcoholic beverages. Violators faced five years in prison. But this did not scare the black market dealers, for whom moonshine was still the most popular commodity.
When Gorbachev came to power, perestroika began and publicity was announced, they started talking about many problems of the Soviet system, including domestic drunkenness. On May 7, 1985, the Central Committee of the CPSU Central Committee issued a resolution “On measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism”, from which the so-called “anti-alcohol campaign” began. Within the framework of the latter, the state introduced unprecedented measures — the prices for vodka increased more than 2 times, which practically halved its consumption.
It was the dry law that led to the fact that the people began to drink everything in a row. Sleeping pills, tranquilizers, the existence of which most drinkers did not even know, were used. At the same time, interest in drugs was first recorded, which subsequently gave terrible mortality from overdoses.
ALCOHOL STATISTICS IN RUSSIA
Russian alcoholism statistics for 2011 states that:
The number of alcohol addicts in the country has exceeded 5,000,000 people and is 3.4% of the total population.
About 1.7% of alcohol addicts are registered with a doctor. Alcoholism killed about 33% of all men and 15% of women, approximately 500,000 people annually. The same number of people do not die during wars, epidemics or natural disasters, even if these data are summed up.
Alcoholism in Russia leads to various deaths and deaths of a person: 62.1% of suicides, 72.2% of homicides, 60% of deaths from pancreatitis, 67.7% from cirrhosis of the liver, and 23.3% from diseases of the heart and blood vessels are observed.
Statistics show that many children start drinking alcohol at 13. At the same time, one-third of guys and one-fifth of girls between the ages of 13 and 18 drink vodka, beer, and other low alcohol drinks every day.
The level of the child and adolescent alcoholism in Russia is growing and begins at the age of 14–15. According to forecasts of doctors, most of them will need treatment for alcohol dependence, since at an early age the body gets used to alcohol faster.
General statistics note that in 2017 the total number of alcoholics is 5 million people, which is 3.4% of the total population of the country. And only 1.7% of citizens in need of serious treatment are registered in medical institutions. Unfortunately, alcohol consumption only on paper is falling. Over the past 10 years, there has been a decrease in sales of alcoholic beverages, but sales of surrogate alcohol are growing. According to statistics, 150 thousand people have been poisoned by a surrogate over the past 2 years. 41 thousand people died.
CHANGES ARE POSSIBLE OR ARE CHANGES POSSIBLE?
Based on the frightening statistics of alcoholism in Russia, the government has set a goal: by 2020, to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed to 8 liters per year per person. To achieve the desired result, a special concept was developed, including a number of mechanisms of influence aimed at a gradual decrease in statistical indicators.
The program to combat alcoholism in Russia consists of:
- Bans on the advertising of alcoholic beverages.
- Restrictions on the age group of buyers.
- Creation of favorable conditions for work in this direction of public organizations, providing them with all kinds of support.
- Promotion of a healthy lifestyle, outdoor activities, and lofty spiritual values.
- Fines for drinking alcohol in public places and being drunk, for driving while intoxicated, for selling alcohol installs, kiosks, and other non-stationary points.
- No sale from 11 pm to 8 am.
Work Cited:
Horvat, Pia, et al. “Alcohol, Pattern of Drinking and All-Cause Mortality in Russia, Belarus and Hungary: A Retrospective Indirect Cohort Study Based on Mortality of Relatives.” Addiction (Abingdon, England), vol. 113, no. 7, July 2018, pp. 1252–1263. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/add.14189.
Khalturina, Daria. “В Море Водки.” Алкогольная Политика в России: Как Государство Контролирует Рынок Алкоголя, 2018, www.kp.ru/putevoditel/zdorovyj-obraz-zhizni/alkogolnaya-politika-v-rossii/.
Morozov, Alexander. “Борьба с Алкоголизмом в России: История, Проблемы, Статистика.” Частная Скорая Помощь №1 в Красноярске, 2017, doctor-124.ru/stati/alkogolizm-v-rossii.html.
Vasisilieva, Elizaveta. “Russia Tightens Regulations on Alcohol.” Barentsobserver, 28 July 2015, barentsobserver.com/en/society/2015/07/russia-tightens-regulations-alcohol-28–07.