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1970-79, the production of spirits
rose 33 percent and wine 49 per–
cent. H igher Soviet exports of
quality vodka and cognac cannot
account for this steep rise.
Consumption has been rising
roughly 5 percent a year, compared
to an average 3 percent for 14 other
industrial nations.
From a pre-Revolution per-capi–
ta consumption of 7.75 liters of
vodka in 1913, est imated figures
for 1968 show that the total con–
sumpt ion was the equivalent of 9.1
liters for every man, woman and
chi ld in the Soviet Union. Only
four years later, the projected fig–
ure had risen to 10.8 liters.
These figures do not include the
illegally produced spirits-esti–
mated to be half agai n as great.
The steady steep rise in con–
sumption has undoubtedly played a
major role in the alarming increase
in death rates in the Soviet Union
over the past severa!
y~ars .
According to an article in the
New York Post
(Februa ry 17,
1981) author Guy Hawtin, refer–
ring to research done by American
census experts, wri tes that "death
ra tes for [Soviet) people in their
40's have soared by 30 percent
since 1960, for those in their 50's
by 20 percent."
These age groups, of course,
comprise people in their most pro–
ductive years.
Most alarming of all, the average
Soviet male's life span dropped
from 66 years in 1965 to 62 years
in 1975! Women 's life expectancy
tailed off at 73 years in t he early
1970s and appears to be dropping.
Russian men are thus dying 1
O
years earlier than their women–
t he la rgest such longevity gap in
the world, despite improved Rus–
s ian health care.
The experts also believe that
alcohol abuse is a primary contribu–
tor to an inc rease in infant mortali–
ty s ince 1971. Alcoholism, it is now
known, has its impact upon the
unborn of pregnant , drinking rnoth–
ers-to-be.
Drink ing " Ever ythin g Under
t he Sun "
Working from Soviet data, West–
e rn scholars have deduced another
remarkable statistic: 40,000 Soviet
May 1982
catazens died from acute alcohol
poisoning in 1976, or 15.9 deaths
per 100,000 population.
"This high mortality is signifi–
cant," reports Professor Vladimir
G. Treml of Duke University,
"since it is completely outside the
range of world experience. i n the
same year, deaths in the U.S. from
alcohol poisoning were recorded a t
400, or 0.1 8 per 100,000. The U .S .
rate is roughly representative of
world rates"
(Th e Walf Street
Journal,
November 1
O,
1981 ).
The alcohol poisoning is largely
a ttributed to the vast quantities of
inferior, if not outright toxic,
homemade "bathtub" vodka and
other alcohol surrogates consumed
in the Soviet Union. (Price
increases in a lcoholic beve rages
have contributed to the develop–
ment of this enormous under–
ground market.)
An equally important lethal role
is played by various types of indus–
trial alcohol stolcn in large quanti–
ties-as high as 200 million-250
million li ters a year-from state
enterprises and construction sites.
" This industria l a lcohol," notes
Professor Treml, "is either drunk
immediately or made into bogus
vodka, bottled in standard glass–
ware, given faked labels and sold
through state retai l outlets by cor–
rupt sales clerks."
Even tbis is not the whole s tory.
"Finally it must be added," says
Dr. T reml , " that lacking funds to
buy legal or ill egal beve r ages,
drinkers in the U.S.S. R. consume
large quantities of a lcohol surro–
gates, such as lotions, medicinal
alcohol, sbellac, varnish, brake and
de-icing fluids and the like. In
1976, for instance, 200 people died
from ingesting eth ylene glycol
(antifreeze), 1,000 from drinking
various cleaning ftuíds and solvents,
and sorne 5,000 from vinegar con–
centrate, which is considered to be
a good (although a rather perma–
nent) remedy for hangover."
Drlnk - the Teenage Drug Pro blem
Drug abuse amo ng the Soviet
Union's teenage and young adul t
population is low by Western stan–
dards. Bu t a soaring rise in teenage
drinking is a deep concern to Soviet
authorities.
OVER-DRINKING, SAYS SOVIET
public service poster, is responsible for
66 out of every 100 injuries.
One survey indicated that 12
percent of 14-year-old boys and 47
percent of 17-year-old youths drink
regularly. " Drinking problems are
occurring in younger and younger
age groups," warned the editors of
one Soviet magazine.
Teenage crime and hooliganism
go hand in hand with alcohol.
" Most of the c r imes young people
commit are committed whi le t hey
a re drunk," lamented the Commu–
nist Part y news pape r
Pra vda.
(Nearly 60 percent of all burglaries
and 49 percent of all rapes in the
Soviet Union are committed by
youths under 20.)
Governmental decisions have
only compounded the youth dr ink–
ing problem. For example, th e
increased l_)roduction of cheap beer
and wine (produc ts of lower alcohol
content) has perversely brought the
pr ice of a lcoholic beverages within
reach of even more youths.
T he Sov iet economic syst em,
with its stress on "fulfilling quo–
tas," further adds to the problem.
Yout hs are permitted to purchase
alcohol at age 16, but state liquor
stores will generally sell to them at
a younge r age, s ince shop managers
are under pressure to fill predeter–
mined sales quotas.
Experts c riticize the government
for speaking out of both sides of its
mouth on the entire alcohol addic–
tion crisis. While aggressively cam–
paigning for publ ic sobriety on one
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