Russian liquor ban ‘impossible’

Press, 5 November 1984, Page 18

Russian liquor ban ‘impossible’

NZPA-Reuter Moscow . The Communist Party daily newspaper, “Pravda,” says the Soviet Union needs prohibition to overcome its growing alcohol problem but that such a measure would be impossible to apply. In a deeply pessimistic article about the chances of fighting alcohol abuse, “Pravda” said that vodka addiction had reached such a scale that it was causing enormous social problems, hurting children the most. The number of mentally retarded children, offspring of alcoholic parents, was steadily growing as was the number of orphans whose

parents had died from drink, it said. “The death rate from drunkenness is continuing to grow substantially,” said “Pravda.” The newspaper said that attempts to cure alcoholics through medical treatment were generaly unsuccessful and that the only real solution to the problem would be a total ban on liquor. “But it is not that easy. The nation would first have to be instilled with a recognition of the need for a sober way of life, we would have to achieve a voluntary rejection of hard liquor, and only then could we introduce a dry law,” said the newspaper.