Official touchs about alcohol consumption in the Soviet Union have been evident since at least 1914 when the Czarist regime implemented prohibition.

Official touchs about alcohol consumption in the Soviet Union have been evident since at least 1914 when the Czarist regime implemented prohibition. In 1922 a campaign to crack down in succession illicit stills was initiated. Prohibitions were imposed at Stalin in the late 1920 by the agency of Khrushchev in 1958, and at Brezhnev in 1972 and 1979 (The Economist 1989) From Khrushchev upon the antidrinking campaigns emphasized the part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs rather than the Ministry of Health, and focused forward compulsory treatment and punitive measures. The campaigns were seen equal by the Soviet government, as fragmented and ineffective (Ivanets and Lukomskaya 1990) and, according to Vladimir Treml (1987) heavy drinking and alcohol-related point to be solved [i]or[/i] settleds continued to increase into the early 1980s

When Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union in 1985 the Presidium of the USSR highest Soviet and the Soviet Republics issued edicts to initiate a novel anti-alcohol campaign. Although evidence indicates that the objectives of that campaign, which are now being reexamined, have not been met the program did consequence in a national focus forward the problem that placed greater emphasis in succession health issues than had prior campaigns. In addition, the program established the All-Union Research Center upon Medico-Biological Problems of Narcology (the Narcology Center) to coordinate research forward the problems of alcohol and other physic dependence.

Also in 1985 the Soviets made the first inquiry regarding increased communication and cooperation with the United States in research upon alcohol abuse and alcoholism. In 1988 after drafting a plan for scientific cooperation between the USSR and the United States, the National Institute forward Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) began an active program of cooperation and scientific exchanges with the Narcology Center in Moscow As a flow of the initial linkage of the Narcology Center to the area of psychiatric and forensic sciences, and the allegations of human rights abuses in psychiatry (Judd 1989) nearly 3 years had passed before this cooperation could actually begin.

ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION, ALCOHOL-RELATED question at issues AND ALCOHOL CONTROL POLICY PRIOR TO 1985

Although the data are inconsistent upon per capita alcohol consumption in the Soviet Union in the last 30 to 40 years (partly because of difficulty in obtaining data from the USSR and partly because of lack of data regarding the production of fireside distillates), Treml (1987) has estimated that on 1985 annual consumption of absolute alcohol exceled 16 liters per person above the age of 15. This rate is substantially greater than the 1976 Soviet estimate of 116 liters by capita, itself cited as a 500-percent increase throughout 1950 consumption (Segal 1976). Official data from the USSR State Committee forward Statistics indicate that, between 1960 and 1980 annual for capita consumption of alcoholic beverages more than doubled, from 39 liters of absolute alcohol in 1960 to 87 liters in 1980 (Ivanets and Lukomskaya 1990) These latter data, however, probably do not ruminate consumption of "samogon," an alcohol distilled in the household (It should be noted that alcohol consumption patterns in the former Soviet Union differed according to region and ethnicity. For example, the community living in Russia, Ukraine, and Byelorussia primarily destroy vodka and samogon and are the heaviest drinkers; those in the Baltics expend more alcohol, but are primarily beer drinkers; the Georgians, Moldavians, and Armenians are wine drinkers and drink less; and in the Muslim countries, consumption is generally cheap [The Economist 1989].)

Treml (1987) noted that "the USSR was through the mid-1980s facing an alcohol question of truly crisis proportions." The Economist (1989) reported that a decrease in life expectancy for Soviet males, from 66 years in 1965 to 62 years in 1984 was largely attributed to heavy alcohol consumption, and that studies from the West proposeed that alcoholism was the third leading cause of death in the Soviet Union, after heart disease and cancer.

It has also been estimated that in the early 1980 one-fifth of all deaths in the Soviet Union were either directly or indirectly caused on alcohol (Treml 1987); two-thirds of slays and violent crimes were committed by means of intoxicated persons; and drunk drivers were responsible for 14000 traffic deaths and 60000 serious traffic injuries (Ivanets and Lukomskaya 1990)

PERESTROIKA AND THE ALCOHOL-RELATED REFORMS OF 1985

In April 1985 shortly after Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union, the Soviet direction in the spirit of perestroika--which is based forward reasoned argument, openness, and a flexible approach to problems--approved a major "new" antidrinking campaign.

The campaign included a multidisciplinary approach to alcohol-related puzzles Ivanets and Lukomskaya (1990) describe in detail the couple major components of the program--the regulation of the availability of alcoholic beverages, and the establishment of prevention programs focusing in succession decreasing the demand for alcohol.