[lbo-talk] let's argue about the cause of mental illness

[Somebody Somebody]

But, why did alcoholism start
going up in Russia to begin with? The decline in life expectancy began
long before the disintegration of the Soviet Union and goes back to the
early 70's. Gorbachev's drive against alcoholism failed. The Soviets
after the mid 20th century never produced consistently rising health
standards like the Cubans have done. Like it or not, but the rest of
the world draws conclusions about Russian society and it's health care
system about the way it's men drink themselves to death. 

And the comparison to Scotland is a bit of a stretch. Scotland on
average is a couple years behind the rest of the UK, although there are parts comparable to the worst inner cities in the U.S. But, Russia is where Britain was in the
1940's!