The Role of Alcoholism in Human Evolution

By Scott Horton

When I started working with refuseniks in Russia in the early 1980's, there was a joke that made the rounds. It would usually be whispered after furtive glances to the left and right:

"So, comrades, we know that capitalism is the stage that follows mercantilism, that socialism is the stage that follows capitalism, and that communism is the stage that follows socialism. But what is the stage that follows communism?" "Answer: alcoholism."

Alas, it's no joke:

Russia's average annual alcohol consumption has reached 15 litres (26 pints) per person, nearly tripling the 1990 average of 5.4 litres, the country's consumer protection agency said Monday.

"The ever higher consumption of alcohol by adolescents and women is especially worrying and significantly increases the risk of the appearance of alcohol-related illnesses," the agency, called Rospotrebnadzor, said in a statement on its website.

The new average was also far higher than the 9.7 litres of alcohol Russians put away in 2005, when some 2.3 million of the country's 142 million people were considered alcoholics, according to Rospotrebnadzor.