The Russians: still drinking…
The Russians do so like their vodka:
Today, according to the World Health Organization, one in five men in the Russia Federation die due to alcohol-related causes, compared with 6.2 percent of all men globally. In 2000, in her article “First Steps: AA and Alcoholism in Russia,” Patricia Critchlow estimated that some 20 million Russians are alcoholics in a nation of just 144 million.
The problem has been going on for centuries, and attempts to combat it have been sporadic and largely futile. Those death rates are astoundingly high, but they were even higher just a few years ago.
And Russians aren’t picky when they drink, either:
…[A]s of 2003 Russia was Europe’s heaviest per capita spirits consumer; its reported hard liquor consumption was over four times as high as Portugal’s, three times that of Germany or Spain, and over two and a half times higher than that of France.
Yet even these numbers may substantially understate hard spirit use in Russia, since the WHO figures follow only the retail sale of hard liquor. But samogon””home-brew, or “moonshine”””is, according to some Russian researchers, a huge component of the country’s overall intake. Professor Alexander Nemstov, perhaps Russia’s leading specialist in this area, argues that Russia’s adult population””women as well as men””puts down the equivalent of a bottle of vodka per week.
…One forensic investigation of blood alcohol content by a medical examiner’s office in a city in the Urals, for example, indicated that over 40 percent of the younger male decedents evaluated had probably been alcohol-impaired or severely intoxicated at the time of death””including one quarter of the deaths from heart disease and over half of those from accidents or injuries. But medical and epidemiological studies have also demonstrated that, in addition to its many deaths from consumption of ordinary alcohol, Russia also suffers a grisly toll from alcohol poisoning, as the country’s drinkers, in their desperate quest for intoxication, down not only sometimes severely impure samogon, but also perfumes, alcohol-based medicines, cleaning solutions, and other deadly liquids. Death rates from such alcohol poisoning appear to be at least one hundred times higher in Russia than the United States””this despite the fact that the retail price in Russia today is lower for a liter of vodka than a liter of milk.
The question, of course, is why so much drinking? There may be a significant genetic component, but that only increases the risk and does not explain the phenomenon. But in a society in which drinking is as common and accepted as it is in Russia, those with the gene are probably more likely to be drawn to the behavior. And of course there’s the famous Russian gloom.
I must confess that my ancestors probably did a bit to encourage all of this—although not the hard liquor part. Family legend has it that they were brewers living in Alsace-Lorraine who were invited into Russia some time around the 1870s by Alexander II, with the aim of helping to establish a viable beer industry in Russia.
I have no information on how successful they were. But after Alexander’s assassination things tightened up considerably in that country, and whether they took to drink or not they managed to leave for the US in the early years of the 20th century.
For which I’m extraordinarily grateful.
In the early 1990s I had been invited to speak in the Ukraine, the Crimea specifically. Afterwards, I wanted to visit an old friend who lived in Istanbul. It turned out that the easiest way to get there was a trading boat leaving from Yalta. Since I got a ticket very late, I wound up sharing a cabin with two traders who were business partners. They brought six bottles of vodka and a bottle of brandy for the thirty six hour trip. It was all gone by the time we arrived in Istanbul.
Why not ask people like my family?
uncle Tali drank till he lost the use of his legs.
then stopped
then got his legs back, then went back to drink losing them again
lots of family like that
though the kids are not like that, except for the older ones…
but its EASY to explain
i have even used the phrases here
Killing time till time kills me
that is. there is NOTHING to do in a society with very little entertainments, low money, everything restricted, and if not specifically legal its illegal
women at least could have sex
as gifts obtained this way was not considered capitalist
we are heading to that…
ie….
people who cant earn more or get punished.
men are not allowed to be men, compete, earn, etc
women are not good mates and helpmeets
everyone scheming on everyone else cause you cant earn legally without being financially worse (see obamacre cost of one dollar over)
it becomes easier and SAFER to just sit around
but since everyone schemes, you cant be poor and happy like in other countries as your afraid of the others you may talk to!!!
so they live isolated lives…
with nothing to do
and no hope of increase as there is no way to change the future that is planned for them (Even if not specifically).
its amazing you dont understand this
but then again, when i think about it
not so amazing
your not used to living an existence like what i live now with similar poeple over me locking me in a tiny room with no choice because of economisc.
i cant get a raise. they have said for the rest of my life i am not eligble to get any reward no matter what!!!
of course i cant ge a lawyer, i am not a protected class
so like the soviets, my future is laid out for me
isolated till i die
no hope of increase
the BEST i can hope for is not to be whipped
and no help, or even hope for help!!!!!!!!!!!
and this is the USA, not russia, where it can be much worse!!!
even now.
thanks to this situation
i am just sitting around waiting to die
there is nothing else i can do!!!
so i understand this veyr much.
ooh…
and look what just arrived…
i told you about it… remember?
First cases of flesh-eating drug Krokodil surface in US…
and you thought drinking was bad…
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/26/first-cases-flesh-eating-drug-krokodil-surface-in-us/
Krokodil, a flesh-eating drug which first surfaced in Russia more than a decade ago, has reportedly been found in the United States.
Similar to morphine or heroin, krokodil is made by mixing codeine with substances like gasoline, paint thinner, oil or alcohol. That mixture is then injected into a vein, potentially causing an addict’s skin to turn greenish, scaly and eventually rot away.
Dr. Frank LoVecchio, co-medical director at Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center in Arizona, told CBS5 that the first two cases of people using the drug have been reported in the state. He declined to comment on the patients’ conditions.
“As far as I know, these are the first cases in the United States that are reported,” LoVecchio said, adding that the cases are believed to be linked. “So we’re extremely frightened.”
Users of krokodil – or desomorphine – had previously only been found in large numbers in Russia, where 65 million doses of the opiate were seized during the first three months of 2011, Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service told Time.
“This is really frightening,” Dr. Aaron Skolnik, a toxicologist at Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center told MyFoxPhoenix.com. “This is something we hoped would never make it to the U.S. because it’s so detrimental to the people who use it.”
Remember the (reported) saying, “We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us”? If you have essentially no hope, why not drink?
Sam L.:
But the Russians have drunk a lot for centuries. Was it always so hopeless there compared to other societies where drinking was less rife?
Was it always so hopeless there compared to other societies where drinking was less rife?
In a word, yes. I don’t think that’s the only reason behind the boozing, but hope has always been in short supply in Russia. Between serfdom, invasions, and abusive rulers, Russians have had plenty of reasons for wanting to make the pain go away. They still do.
I give up. What is the reason for mixing opiates with gasoline or paint thinner? That sounds like the dumbest idea ever devised. I could understand mixing with some other drugs, at least it’s rational (in a stupid way, but injecting poison? WTF?
Russia went from a worker’s paradise (all citizens being equally miserable except for the elite) to being a thuggish kleptocracy. That has improved life for the elites even more. Outside of Moscow and St. Petersberg life is still pretty miserable. I have a friend who goes there on missionary trips. In most of the country poverty is still pretty bad. Drunkeness (people staggering and falling down on public streets) is common. Drinking is an escape.
The genetic cause of alcoholism is also strong. Such people experience alcohol differently than most. The relief from stress, fear, and poverty that vodka provides for those individuals is much stronger than it is in the people without the gene. It is a way to escape from the drudgery, stress, and lack of opportunities.
The American Indians, who came from Siberia into North America, also have the alcoholic gene. Alcoholism is also a major problem for American Indians.
It seems that humans could benefit from a drug (Soma perhaps? :-)) that provides the same kind of release that alcohol provides without all the physical damage it causes.
The alcoholism and the Russian kleptocracy are two reasons why we should never fear Russia as an enemy. Of course old “Pig Eyes” Putin looks pretty scary compared to the Obama. But that’s all an illusion.
}}} For which I’m extraordinarily grateful.
As are we… 😉
}}} “As far as I know, these are the first cases in the United States that are reported,” LoVecchio said, adding that the cases are believed to be linked. “So we’re extremely frightened.”
I note the absolute lack of information as to the identity or national background of the two cases. I’d bet that means that this is a bullshit story trying to gin up concerns because the reality is that the two were Russian immigrants already using the drug when they came here.
It’s not like that’s a small population, the “Russian Mafia” is certainly one of the known major forces in the criminal underworld today.
Russian Americans now represent about 1% of the population, about 3 million people. This includes long-term descendants as well, of course.
So having two recent emigres turn out to be users — GASP!! — how horribly terrifying. S:-/