A TDA International Update:
My standard line when it came to drinking was “quantity, not quality”. The Russians also have a saying, ”drinking beer without vodka is a waste of money”. While the two phrases may sound different, the desired goal was the same; me and my Russian comrades wanted to get drunk quickly, and stay that way. Alcohol abuse has always been a problem in hard drinking Russia, but alcoholism rates have continued to rise unabated since the 80’s to now record levels. Now more than half of all deaths for ages 15-54 are caused by alcohol. The government is reporting that over 500,000 people die each year because of alcohol abuse, these stats have helped lower the life expectancy in Russia to that of a third world nation.
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President Dmitry Medvedev has promised to introduce measures to combat this continuous growth in substance abuse that is wrecking his nation. They tried prohibition briefly back in the 80’s, but production of bootleg alcohol “samogon” skyrocketed and so did fatalities caused by the drinking of non-potable alcohol products like perfumes. These alcohol poisoning deaths are still on the rise caused now not by prohibition, but because of the poor economy people are still drinking anything with alcohol they can get their hands on regardless if it is safe. Alcohol poisoning deaths are thought to be above ten thousand annually, compare that to about 300 a year for the US which has a much higher population.
Regardless of how you say or in what language you say it in, drinking just to get drunk is bad news. In the US, such abuse is on the rise with our college students, but Russia’s problem seems to be much more widespread and severe.
