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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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 Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:12 pm Post subject: Alcohol consumption killing Russians |
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A man drinks antiseptic alcohol on a street in central Moscow October 31, 2006. Consumption of certain alcoholic liquids such as disinfectant and eau de cologne are widespread in Russia among the homeless and alcohol addicts. Alcoholism, coupled with poisoning by low-quality and bootleg liquor, remains one of post-Soviet Russia's most serious problems and contributes to a life expectancy for men of only 59 years.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30254429.htm
This was seen below on that link |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Actually, drinking Lysol dissolved in water or aftershave straight from the bottle are two common ways of getting drunk for North American bums. |
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huffdaddy
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
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| Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 4:10 am Post subject: Re: Alcohol consumption killing Russians |
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| Adventurer wrote: |
| Consumption of certain alcoholic liquids such as disinfectant and eau de cologne are widespread in Russia among the homeless and alcohol addicts. |
Hmmm, I'd have guessed that vodka was cheaper than disinfectant and eau de cologne in Russia. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 4:26 am Post subject: |
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| In Toronto a lot of drunks were dying with their kidneys shutting down. They were consuming huge amounts of salt. It was traced to Chinese cooking wine. The wine had a high alcohol content but also a high salt content. It wasn't taxed to heaven like a drinkable alcohol. The government felt with the high salt content, the stuff was undrinkable. Of course they didn't count on rummies... |
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Slep
Joined: 14 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 4:35 am Post subject: |
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| I remember reading that at some point, the USSR decided to cut down on vodka production and expected living went up something like 5-10 years in only years. |
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ChimpumCallao
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: your mom
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| Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 5:11 am Post subject: |
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| Slep wrote: |
| I remember reading that at some point, the USSR decided to cut down on vodka production and expected living went up something like 5-10 years in only years. |
yeah, smart move...as the unintended consequences turn out to be (see OP) consumption of eau de cologne and disinfectant. |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 5:33 am Post subject: |
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| Slep wrote: |
| I remember reading that at some point, the USSR decided to cut down on vodka production and expected living went up something like 5-10 years in only years. |
I don't recall this ever happening. When I lived in Leningrad, though, alcohol was rationed - you could only buy two bottles at a time, when you could find a store that had any. I didn't seeing it having any great impact on life expectancy because of the response to it.
At 15 rubles a bottle of vodka, most average folks couldn't afford two at a time. You would see men standing outside open liquor stores, holding up three fingers as a signal to passers by that they wished to go in with two others on buying a bottle. When a troika was formed, one person would gather five rubles from each member, go into the store and buy a bottle. He would come out, they would open it on the street (bottles were not resealable) and each would drink their share straight away. One would return the bottle and get the deposit, to be shared. It was on the honor system not to swig more than your share.
Given the rationing of alcohol (as well as sugar, to prevent the making of samogon (homebrew)) and the ubiquitousness of alcoholism, it's not surprising that I have seen people drink eau de cologne. When the rationing was first announced, the next day there were long lines at perfume stores throughout the city. (Samogon certainly did get made; we were supplied with it in the residence by an Uzbek policeman who was studying law there and got it from cop friends in L-grad after they confiscated it. Nasty, nasty stuff; we would fill an extra glass and light it on fire while we drank so that, in the end, we drank less of it.)
To get an (only slightly) exaggerated picture of the drinking culture of the late Sov, I recommend two novels, Masquerade by Yuz Aleshkovsky and Moscow Circles (also translated, less well, as Mosocw to the End of the Line) by Venedikt Erofeev. Erofeev's novel was suppressed for years (my college housemate's grandmother typed up the first samizdat edition) and finally appeared at the beginning of glasnost', serialized in the journal Trezvost' i Obshchestvo (Sobriety and Society). Throughout the novel readers are provided with recipes for drinks made with eau de cologne, bug spray, and shoe polish. All confirmed to me by Russian friends as sources of alcohol for the desperate.
Who knows what they're drinking outside the cities these days. |
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soviet_man
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 6:37 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I remember reading that at some point, the USSR decided to cut down on vodka production and expected living went up something like 5-10 years in only years. |
Of course alcoholism and sobriety is a greater problem in Russia now, than it ever was in Soviet times.
The dismantling of the socialist health system has seen Russian life expectantcy drop from 64 years to 59 - in just fifteen years. Russia's death rate and general population decline is shocking.
Alcoholism is just the tip of the iceberg. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:29 am Post subject: |
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| Slep wrote: |
| I remember reading that at some point, the USSR decided to cut down on vodka production and expected living went up something like 5-10 years in only years. |
I believe it. I've seen old Soviet videos on TV that showed army officers chugging full bottles of vodka in less time than you can say, "cirrhosis of the liver". |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, this problem continues.......
What is really distressing is that the youth seem no more likely to "kick the habit" than the adults.
I remember being in Russia and walking home through a few beautiful parks. In the mornings, bottles scattered everywhere being swept up by babusky. In the evening, I'd often stop and talk to the many, many groups of teenagers, dead drunk, swigging and swinging bottles around (cheap vodka preferred, but some beer). It was the activity of choice for a majority of youth. Really, truly.
I think part of the problem other than (as Woland obliquely referred to) the culture of drunken acceptance -- is that there are few outlets , opportunities, especially for the youth in today's Russia. This was also the case during communism. Lots of leisure time but nothing to do. Funny how so much has changed and nothing has changed (and there is a very funny Russian joke about this, about post communism and a clown...).
Also, never expect to go to a Russian wedding and escape sober! Impossible.
DD |
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Alias
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Newspaper reports also say brake fluid, eau de cologne, window cleaning liquid, lighter fuel and aftershave have also been added to vodka. |
Perhaps an influx of good BC bud would help them overcome their deadly habit. |
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