Russia
Consumption of surrogate alcohol is a common problem in Russia, contributing to the high rate of alcohol-related deaths in the country. During the Soviet regime, alcoholic beverages were often among the only consumer goods affordable for the general public, leading to rampant alcoholism which is still present in modern Russia. In 1985, Gorbachev instituted alcohol reform, attempting to fight widespread alcoholism by increasing prices and reducing availability. These changes, however, led to the formation of a black market for alcohol, including surrogates. The dissolution of the Soviet Union caused a further spike in alcohol prices, leading more people to cheaper surrogate alcohol.
In Venedikt Yerofeyev's 1970 samizdat novella Moscow-Petushki, the unreliable narrator shares recipes for a variety of cocktails made with surrogate alcohol.
Read more about this topic: Surrogate Alcohol
Famous quotes containing the word russia:
“In Russia there is an emigration of intelligence: émigrés cross the frontier in order to read and to write good books. But in doing so they contribute to making their fatherland, abandoned by spirit, into the gaping jaws of Asia that would like to swallow our little Europe.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
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—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
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—Golda Meir (1898–1978)