A National Catastrophe

No, not ours. Russia's. Vodka is very cheap in Russia, which is one of the reasons why 500,000 or more Russians die each year from alcohol. The Russian government is showing signs of being concerned about it.

Good luck with that. Drunks are not politically active, a trade-off that the various Russian governments have been willing to make for centuries. But now, they may have no choice if they are going to avoid a crash of their population.