Alcohol Consumption in Romania

Romania holds one of the top positions in Europe in terms of alcohol consumption.

România Internațional, 13.08.2014, 12:35

Romania holds a top position in Europe in terms of alcohol abuse. There is no precise profile of an alcohol consumer, but experts claim that the genetic factor plays an important role. People with first-degree relatives with problems in alcohol consumption present a high risk of developing themselves an addiction. According to data provided by the Alliance for the Fight Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, Romanians consume around 9 liters of pure alcohol per capita annually. At the same time, the World Health Organization warns of a trend towards an increase in alcohol consumption in teenagers and young people worldwide. However, the Romanian authorities have a solid program of preventing consumption and of recovery for people with alcohol addiction, as Dan Prelipceanu, a psychiatrist and honorary president of the Alliance, believes:

“This is a big, unresolved problem in Romania, and also in Europe. There is a huge lack of interest, and has been for a long time, on the side of society and the authorities towards this alcohol problem, which is extremely significant in terms of social costs. We are talking of tens of billions of Euros that go towards alcohol consumption related expenses. We are talking about direct costs, in terms of medical complications, in all areas of medicine, but also indirect costs such as premature deaths, retirements, years lost without a point, or traumas incurred by minors in alcoholic families, or domestic violence.”

As for the myth that one glass of wine a day is good for your health, experts claim that this protective effect is real only in the case of people who don’t smoke. Statistics show that Romania has around 2 million people who consume alcohol in excess, and that 70% of family violence and around 50% of murders are caused by alcohol. More to the point, seven other people suffer because of an alcoholic. World Health Organization data indicate that alcohol kills more people than AIDS and TB put together. Around 100 Romanians die every year because of alcohol. Dan Prelipceanu:

“This exists in all countries, and in Romania it is much worse. Alcohol is a legal drug, and it is a very good opportunity to develop huge businesses. Such is the culture we live in.”

In order to cater to people with alcohol problems, the Alliance for the Fight Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, a professional association founded in 1993, opened three years ago two centers for integrated treatment in Bucharest and Targoviste. This is the first free program for treatment of alcohol addiction developed in Romania, with European financing. In these three years, no less than 1,200 patients got the benefit of the services offered by the Alliance experts, most of them between 25 and 54 years of age. 66% of the beneficiaries of the two centers have secondary or higher education, and 42% of them had a job when they took advantage of the free services offered by the association. Alliance experts, in their 20 years of activity, have been striving to offer treatment for people who have to control their alcohol or drug consumption. Here is Dr. Gabriela Bondoc, medical director for the Alliance:

VF: “In its 20 years of activity, the Alliance offered treatment for various conditions related to substance abuse for 18,300 people. We focused on all possible areas of intervention in terms of alcohol consumption, because we are the biggest organization dealing with alcohol problems. We have been running activities from primary prevention to going to schools, warning of the consequences of alcohol consumption for young people, down to the secondary and tertiary prevention activities. Also, the Alliance brought to Romania specialty books dealing with this alcohol problem, and we have trained over 800 experts in this area.”

Adrian Mihai is 40, and is one of the beneficiaries of the services offered by the Alliance. Although he works in a supermarket arranging alcohol bottles on shelves, he hasn’t touched a drop in eight months. He started drinking when he fulfilled the mandatory military service, then he continued out of habit. He used to not come home for days on end, and his wife kept telling him to go to the doctor to get treatment. He realized he had a health problem when he got to drinking 7 liters of beer daily:

“I used to waste days and nights on end consuming alcohol. Work capacity was reduced. I had arguments with the family and money was thrown out the window. The family pushed me to try to give up alcohol consumption. There were trials, periods of 2 to 3 months. I even went to private centers where a lot of money was spent on my treatment, but with no result. I was lucky to meet this Alliance team, which opened my eyes. I can say I was reborn.”

Adrian Mihu is one of the 1,200 patients who got the benefit of the free treatment offered by the alliance, which starting in December 2013 were left without European financing. This means that patients will have to dole out cash for treatment. Treatment costs 6,720 lei for three months. A recent study shows that last year hospitals spent no less than 25 million lei on treating alcoholics in emergency and admission wards.