I live in a post-Soviet country that has many of the issues described in the statement too. We have the highest suicide rate in Europe (after Russia), and basic

I live in a post-Soviet country that has many of the issues described in the statement too. We have the highest suicide rate in Europe (after Russia), and basically everyone knows of at least a handful of people who have died either directly or indirectly due to alcohol. Earlier this year my father-in-law died due to alcohol. He had been out drinking and the next morning his family found him asleep on the floor downstairs. They assumed he was just drunk (he was still breathing at this point) so left him, and when they came back in the evening he was still there, but no longer breathing. His death was put down to heart failure as he had known heart problems (no post-mortem was done), but if it wasn't for the alcohol something would have been done. So even the statistics that associate deaths due to alcohol are too low. Last year the government brought in laws to limit the hours alcohol could be sold in shops (8pm Monday - Saturday and 3pm on Sunday and holidays) and the drinking age was raised to 20, and of course it was met with plenty of public outcry. Most people refuse to admit that alcohol is such a big problem for socieity, even when it is staring them in the face.