In looking for something to blog about for this week I discovered an article titled “Russia’s Hangover: How to curtail a serious drinking problem?”. In the article, the author, Janet Davison of the Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (CBC) discusses how the Russian government has enacted a new law declaring that beer is an alcoholic beverage and not a food, which could theoretically limit its sales.

Upon first reading this subtitle, I was instantly confused, if not somewhat amused. I never thought of beer as a food, and seeing a law enacted just to declare something that seems so obvious struck me as slightly odd. However, through reading this article, I learned that imbibing in alcoholic beverages is something intrinsic to Russian life and culture, and in fighting a battle against alcoholism, the Russian government was essentially waging a battle against a psycological habit that has transcended centuries.

A quote that specifically epitomizes this theme was made by Yuri Leving, chair of the department of Russian studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He stated that “In Russia, the drinking culture has long been established and historically justified… No holiday is complete without a feast with the obligatory presence of a large amount of alcohol.” Leving also mentioned that “life in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia has never been easy, and often the cause of addiction to alcohol can be explained by man’s desire to suppress strong emotions and escape from stress.”

When I read that line, I instantly associated it with the alcoholism problem with Native Americans in the United States. Similarily to the Russian situation, the Native Americans within American society have always had issues with alcoholism, or at least have been stereotyped as having these problems. History may have instigated the prevalence of alcoholism in the United States. Early demand, with no regulation and strong encouragement, may have contributed to a “tradition” of heavy alcohol use being passed down from generation to generation, which has led to the current high level of alcohol-related problems. The Russian population has a similar issue in that the government has never regulated alcohol in the country, and is only just acknowledging it as an issue. Drinking is not only legal, but also easily accessible and portrayed in a positive light. The problem, according to the article, lays in the very denial of a problem with alcoholism.

What I also found interesting in this article were the statistics used to argue just how intense this issue was within Russian society. According to the article, alcohol contributed to the deaths of about 500,000 Russians annually, and consumption was double the World Health Organization’s critical level. Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev stated that, “In Russia, each person, including babies, accounts for about 18 litres of spirits per year. In the opinion of World Health Organization (WHO) experts, consumption of more than eight litres per year poses a real threat to the health of the nation. Russia has long exceeded this level.”

I think that in reading this article it would be interesting to see if this upward trend of alcholism was a worldwide trend. Especially regarding the current state of many national economies, it would not surprise me if the world as a whole was facing a problem with alcoholism. I remember reading at one point during my AP World History class sophomore year of high school that Russian soldiers during World War II were actually allotted alcohol daily. That only goes to show that alcohol within Russian society stretches back at least as far as World War II, certainly longer than that. I really am glad that I found this article to read. I might even see if I can do something along these lines for my final project. One of my only gripes about being at a school like Dickinson is that I constantly find myself disconnected with the outside world while on campus. Reading articles like this really is helping me to become more globally aware, and realize that the world is so much bigger than Carlisle, Pennsylvania.