MOSCOW. (Vlad Grinkevich, RIA Novosti economic commentator) - Last weekend marked 90 years since the notorious Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed banning the sale, manufacture, and transport of alcohol for consumption.

The period from 1919 to 1933 in United States history is known as Prohibition, or The Noble Experiment. It later became the plot of many gangster movies and a symbol of futile government efforts far beyond America.

Alcoholism and ways to deal with it have reemerged into the spotlight in Russia, as the government announced drinking a national disaster and called for a crackdown on alcohol. However, a new government policy - the recently published Concept of Government Policy to Reduce Alcohol Abuse and Prevent Alcoholism through 2020 - does not suggest that the fight will be easily won.

The public often condemns the initiators of prohibition bills, dismissing their efforts as much campaigning with little result - people do not abandon drinking and the bans are eventually lifted. However, it was only the Eighteenth Amendment that failed so notoriously, as the U.S. government essentially lost the battle against international criminal syndicates, who were smuggling the contraband from Europe and Canada.

However, Russia's experience in this area is more encouraging. A royal decree that banned alcohol manufacturing and marketing nationwide, issued shortly before World War I, came into force on July 18, 1914. It was not followed by any alcohol riots as an alcohol lobby had threatened. On the contrary, the data available suggest that alcohol consumption dropped to 0.2 liters per capita in 1915. Interestingly, labor productivity jumped 9%-13% over the same period. Though it could have been a coincidence, there was also a drop in workplace injuries, crime, mental disorders and suicides.

The Soviet government at first supported the initiative, but money soon prevailed over common sense and the prohibition was soon replaced with a state monopoly on vodka manufacturing and marketing.

In the mid-1980s, the government attempted another crackdown on alcohol abuse. The Communist Party Central Committee passed a resolution on policies to combat drinking and alcoholism. Legal alcohol sales dropped 60% in two years, while illegal substances were not mass-produced. The death rate decreased, too. What's more, the anti-alcohol campaign prompted the last baby boom in the Soviet Union, sending the birth rate up 9.2%. Incidentally, the current increase in births in Russia is a direct effect of that last Soviet baby boom, as the children born during those years are having their own children now.

These days, government officials make very convincing speeches on how alcohol abuse harms society. The new government Concept contains the sad statistics: alcohol consumption has nearly doubled over the past two decades, to 10 liters per capita a year in 2008 (including illegal products and home-made alcohol this figure reaches 18 liters). Over 23,000 people die annually of alcohol poisoning, and 75,000 of health disorders caused by alcohol. Alcoholism tops the list of reasons for the current decline in the population.

The government's response so far does not match the scale of the problem. The anti-alcohol campaign was announced a year ago. But the latest Concept is nothing but a declaration of intent - it describes the problem in detail, identifies the general goals and outlines tentative ways of attaining these goals. The only encouraging trend is that the authors of the Concept have refrained from repeating the old myth of the notorious "national tradition," but admitted that rising alcohol consumption is a direct consequence of irresponsible government policy.

This confession naturally calls for a change of policy. It would be a good idea to bring hard alcohol prices up to European levels. However, Russian officials might have thought it too trivial and suggested "building a legal, organizational and financial framework for further efforts to support and seal positive trends" at the first stage (2010-2012). And what's next? The document further propagandizes a healthy lifestyle, popularizing anti-alcohol campaigns, supporting religious and public associations which condemn alcohol abuse, etc.

The Concept does contain clauses on raising prices and restricting alcohol retailing. However, the government does not risk raising prices high enough to significantly affect drinkers' budgets. Alcohol prices rose by a mere 10%-13% this year, while housing and utility bills in Moscow went up 26% and municipal transportation fares 18%-20%.

If we take price increases as policies to discourage certain trends, it would appear the government wants to fight heating and transportation more than it does alcohol abuse.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.