Killer Vodka

Here's a sad, somewhat scary story - in Russia, fake vodka (made from stuff like brake fluid and lighter fuel) is killing tens of thousands of people a year, and is becoming a worse problem. Here's the story.

If you've never been to Russia or you don't know much about the Russian culture, it might be difficult to understand why this is such a big problem, but drinking vodka in Russia is like drinking wine in France, or drinking beer at a baseball game. That's just the way it's done. Add to that the bleak existence many of the people have been living for so long and alcoholism is rampant.

So these people really need their vodka. They'll stand in line for hours to get it (or at least they did back in the days of the Soviet Union - I remember seeing the lines when visiting Leningrad (now St. Petersburg again). Vodka, bread and toilet paper were the 3 major products everyone would wait for. Although there wasn't much vodka available, at least it was the real thing.