Why So Much Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in Russia?

The stats about alcohol consumption in the USSR and now Russia are so astounding that most people do not believe them. Whole towns and villages in rural Russia are abandoned as "Ghost Towns" because the people died as a result of alcohol. Hundreds of people, especially males, drown each year as a result of falling drunk into the ponds, lakes and rivers while fishing.

The situation is especially bad for males. In some regions almost every single boy and man is drunk almost daily. When I took my daily walks around the small Moscow lakes last August almost every couple, both young and old, carried half quart bottles of beer with them as they pushed baby buggies and sat in the grass listening to portable radios. The appearance of MP 3 Players is just beginning.

But why is alcohol abuse so prevalent there? I have several theories but three stand out. First, the move away from God toward Communism has resulted in a chronic intergenerational law of generations that produces bitterness, anger, resentment and a loss of hope. (Read Isiah 28) The only cure is for a massive revival and confession of their sin by the Russian people.

Secondly, family life in Russia disentegrated as a result of the atheistic, paranoia of the Bolsheviks and father turned against children and children agaisnt parents. The state became supreme and massive numbers of people failed to keep the Commandment that says: "Honor your father and mother." The rates of premature deaths in Russia prove the consequences of failing to follow God's laws.

Third, and perhaps most directly related to male alcohol abuse, mothers tried to protect their sons from the brutality of the Communist state. The surest way for a male to lose his freedom and even his life was to be assertive and self-assured. Little boys are, by nature and by the development of testosterone, more hyperactive, assertive and agressive. THIS IS GOOD!!

Under Stalin and the other brutal dictators of the Socialist Republic any kind of masculine assertive indpendence was seen as a threat and severely punished by sending the men to prison or into one of the astoundingly brutal armed forces to "break his spirit". This led mothers to be naturally overprotective of their sons and they reacted strongly to any and all "Boyishness" such as fighting, rough housing and having fun.

Almost every male in Russia has a wounded spirit. In Colossians Three St. Paul wisely says, "Fathers do not exasperate your children and cause them to lose heart." When a boy has lost heart and has a wounded spirit he needs to be healed by interacting with older men who can help heal and restore hope. Without hope men and boys turn to alcohol to deaden their pain.

Here in America we are also seeing a war against boys. About 40% of all children are being reared in fatherless homes. About 75% of the time mothers get custody of the children in a divorce. Boys are flunking out of female oriented schools that discriminate against hyperactive boys. The feminanization of Christianity has led to 75% of church attendees being female.