Initiatives to curb alcohol abuse and alcoholism in the former Soviet Union

Alcohol Health & Research World, Fall, 1991 by Nancy D. Dorman, Leland H. Towle

Regulation initiatives included the following:

* reducing the production of vodka and cognac to 56 percent of 1984 levels. by 1987

* setting a minimum legal drinking age of 21 years

* prohibiting the sale of beverages in public places

* restricting hours of sales

* decreasing the number of sales outlets

* increasing prices substantially

* prohibiting advertising

* increasing prosecution of home distillers.

The prevention initiatives included the following:

* developing health education programs for distribution through the mass media

* suggesting alternatives for leisure time that did not involve drinking

* prohibiting public drunkenness and drunk driving.

* establishing a policy of intolerance for drinking in the workplace

* developing anti-alcohol propaganda to promote a social climate that cultivated temperance

* establishing the All-Union Temperance Promotion Society (TPS) to further these initiatives.

The TPS, which advocated a completely dry society, claimed to have 14 million members, who paid one ruble a year to belong. Members were expected to recruit new members, to help administer government anti-alcohol efforts, and generally to set an example of abstinence (Kirn 1987).

In 1985, the All-Union Research Center on Medico-Biological Problems of Narcology was established within the Ministry of Health, to study alcohol and other drug dependence. Location of the Center within the Ministry of Health was an important policy change, as, prior to 1985, major responsibility for alcohol-related issues had been with the Ministry of Interior, the criminal justice arm of the Soviet government. Initially, research at the new Center focused primarily on biological and clinical sciences. In early 1991, the Soviet Narcology Center changed its name to the All-Union Research Center on Medico-Biological Problems of Addiction (Addiction Center). Later in the year, the Center was reorganized to include research on social and legislative issues and prevention, as well as epidemiology; its name was changed accordingly to the All-Union Center of Addictions. In addition to biomedical research, the Center now stresses the importance of early identification, treatment, and social rehabilitation in the reduction of alcoholism and alcohol-related problems.

Evaluation of the outcome of the 1985 initiatives yields mixed reviews. Many officials of the former Soviet Union and Western observers now agree that the 1985 program was not successful and that a change in direction is needed. Partanen (1987) documents a confounding factor in the current reform movement in the former Soviet Union, a factor brought about by a philosophical struggle between two schools of thought--one that supports disciplinary and punitive measures and prohibition, and one that supports gradual moderation of drinking habits.

Official Soviet statistics, however, indicate many positive results of the campaign, including the following:

* decreases in alcohol-related mortality, absenteeism, and lost work time

* decreases in occupational and domestic violence