Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Medvedev orders swift anti-alcohol controls

Russian President Dmitry Medvedvev on Friday gave his officials three months to enact tough restrictions to try and curb alcohol abuse.

Last month, Medvedev described alcoholism as a “national disaster”, which undermines public health and hampers the economy, urging the public to unite in fighting against it.

Russia has one of the world’s highest per-capita rates of alcohol consumption, linked to life expectancy. According to official figures, just 40 percent of this year’s school leavers will reach the pension age of 55 for women and 60 for men.

Earlier attempts to introduce curbs on alcohol, including a major campaign by the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev launched in 1985, brought little practical results and undermined government popularity.

On Friday, Medvedev ordered Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to introduce new restrictions on advertising alcoholic drinks and to allow local authorities to ban the sale of alcohol in specific locations and at specific times of the day. Medvedev also proposed replacing fines with criminal punishment for those who sell spirits and beer to those under 18, who are banned from buying alcohol.

The proposals, which echo similar measures introduced during Gorbachev’s campaign, will be unpopular in a country where easy access to alcohol and public drinking in parks and streets are seen as traditional rights.

Medvedev also ordered the government to initiate new measures limiting the illegal production and sale of spirits.

Russian officials say about 30-50 percent of Russia’s vodka market is illegal and untaxed. Many officials say a state vodka monopoly would bring order to the market and make it easier to control.

The proposed measures will hardly affect importers of alcohol, whose share of the local market does not exceed three percent. Most imported wines and spirits are sold in legal shops, which will not be affected.

source: Reuters

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Obstacles that Can Lead to Relapse

About Drug and Alcohol Addiction Millions of Americans suffer from dependency and addiction to drugs and alcohol, and the numbers continue to increase. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, In 2012, approximately 23.9 million people in America, 12 years of age and older, had used an illegal drug or abused a psychotherapeutic medication….

Going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings could help with depression

Participants at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) could benefit from alleviation of depression according to new findings. Individuals who attended Alcoholics Anonymous meeting more frequently not only drank less, but also had fewer symptoms of depression. John F. Kelly, PhD, associate director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Addiction Medicine says the study is the….

Abstinence the path to avoid alcoholism

Parents throughout Victoria and Canada are vehemently opposed to their children taking illicit drugs — but what about the most widely used, and deadliest drug of all? There is a killer that lives among us every day — a killer called alcohol. In recent years, it has been common practice for parents to condone underage….

Can I Get Insurance for Addiction Treatment?

Many people who find themselves in the need for quality addiction treatment wonder if there are any forms of insurance coverage available to assist in paying for the cost of treatment. While there are not state mandates in every state (not as of yet anyway) there are some ways that you can get insurance for….

Seizure drug shows promise as potential therapy for alcoholism

A new study conducted on mice has shown that a seizure drug, called gabapentin, could act as a potential therapy for alcoholism by reversing cellular effects. In the study, alcohol-dependent rodents receiving gabapentin drank less alcohol, and this led the scientists to say that gabapentin normalizes the action of certain brain cells altered by chronic….