ALCOHOL PROBLEM

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32956, 30 June 1972, Page 14

ALCOHOL PROBLEM

Campaign in Soviet Union (N .Z.P.A. -Reuter—4 Copyright) MOSCOW, June 28. The official Soviet Union campaign against alcohol, and vodka in particular, was intensified today with a series of newspaper articles warning readers against the dangers of drunkenness. But the State’s fight against alcohol will stop short of prohibition, according to the Soviet Union’s First Deputy Prosecutor (Mr M. P. Malyarov), who today answered readers’ letters on the subject in “Izvestia." Replying to a reader who had asked whether prohibition might be the only answer to what is acknowledged as a serious social problem in Russia, Mr Malyarov said that various countries had tried this, but it had never solved the problem. Vodka sales have risen steeply in recent years in the Soviet Union, and earlier this month the Government took a series of measures to reduce both production and the number of places where it is sold. Price rises in recent years have failed to curb consumption, and have merely raised the revenue the State draws from its monopoly of sales. The trade union newspaper, “Trud,” said today that it was a vicious practice for shops near soccer grounds to sell spirits without restriction. It added that there had been frequent cases of disorderly behaviour and bad language during matches. At one recent game, in Moscow, 16 drunks were detained by the police, and sack-loads of empty bottles were cleared from the stands after every match, "Trud” said.