This is the first editorial in this week's issue of the Sakhalin Times

It’s heartening to know that the Sakhalin Police are intent on stopping the illicit liquor trade. Sakhalin definitely puts a large share in the 20 billion dollars that are spent in purchasing alcohol in Russia every year. Considering how much the average Sakhaliner does spend on liquor, it would be comforting to know that all alcohol is purchased legally and the Russian Government gets its tax revenues.

The State Duma officially banned the sale and consumption of beer “on the street, in stadiums, in squares, parks, on public transport and other public places.” The Duma also banned the sale of beer to minors, and near kindergartens and schools. It is implicitly stated in the bill the ban covers all sorts of alcoholic beverages.

In theory this should make the streets much safer in the evenings. However, a walk around Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is enough to know that this ban is hardly being taken seriously. Even in the early winter, the park and the areas around benches are ‘decorated’ with cans and broken bottles. It’s despicable to see a pile of broken vodka bottles around the Slava Square (World War II Memorial) at 7 am on a Monday. How good is any ban if it can’t be enforced?

This is where the police need to conduct their “operation alcohol.” The police can at least ensure that the sale of alcohol doesn’t take place near school and the university campuses. The closer we get to the holiday season, the more difficult it will be to ensure that people don’t consume alcohol in public. Many plain-clothes policemen will also enjoy the revelry of the New Year by getting drunk in public. After all, everybody has the right to celebrate and the New Year holidays do occupy a special place in Russian hearts, but then again, every citizen has the right to be safe as well.

Many women in Sakhalin actually hate the New Year and May holidays as their husbands literally spend the entire stretch drinking. Given the family structure and power of women in Russian society, most of this alcohol consumption takes place in public. This makes the streets more dangerous. It isn’t just the lower middle class that indulges in such drunken behaviour. On New Year’s Day 2004, the 15 year-old sister of one our reporters suffered a concussion when she was hit by a car on the sidewalk. The semi-drunk driver, who took her to the hospital, claimed that he drove into the sidewalk to avoid banging into another car (presumably driven by another drunk driver).

Considering the fact that there are hardly any inexpensive restaurants, bars or cafes in Yuzhno, it’s inevitable that alcohol will be consumed in the streets this holiday season. The police are hardly in a position to fine or arrest those who violate the ban, but the people of Sakhalin need some self-policing. As we near the holiday celebrations, Sakhaliners need to conduct another kind of “operation alcohol.” This must be an operation of restraint where alcohol is consumed in limits, so that everybody can celebrate and ring in the New Year in public, without having to worry about their safety