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- Neither to myself, nor to children: in the Russian Federation they want to increase fines for buying alcohol for teenagers
Neither to myself, nor to children: in the Russian Federation they want to increase fines for buying alcohol for teenagers
The State Duma has again raised the issue of child alcoholism. The parliament proposes to increase fines for buying alcohol to teenagers 10 times — from 1.5–3 thousand to 15-30 thousand rubles, and for parents — from 4-5 thousand to 40-50 thousand, Izvestia found out. The bill will be submitted to the lower house on December 12. At the same time, similar ideas have been proposed before, and this was justified by opinion polls, according to which over 70% of Russians tried alcohol for the first time before the age of 18. The government stated that the bill needs to be finalized, and psychologists are sure that to solve the problem, first of all, not fines, but a favorable atmosphere in the family is needed.
New fines
The problem of child alcoholism has been repeatedly raised within the walls of the State Duma. This time, the parliamentarians propose a 10-fold increase in fines for buying alcohol for children. Such a bill will be submitted to the State Duma on December 12 (Izvestia has the text of the document).
According to the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, today an adult who buys alcohol for a child can be fined 1.5–3 thousand rubles, and if a parent did it, then 4-5 thousand rubles. The initiative proposes to increase the punishment to 15-30 thousand and 40-50 thousand rubles, respectively.
— Fines for involving children in alcohol consumption are ridiculous and can hardly frighten anyone. It is necessary to introduce administrative responsibility for the purchase of alcohol in the interests of persons under the age of 18 and transfer to children in order to involve them in the use of alcoholic products, as well as to increase fines for these acts 10 times," LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky told Izvestia.
He recalled that in May of this year, after drinking too much hot drinks at a friend's birthday party, a teenager from the Irkutsk region stabbed four of his peers to death, after which he set fire to the house.
— The alcohol for this party was bought by adults… Alcohol greatly clouds the mind of even older people, let alone the fragile child's psyche," said the deputy.
According to opinion polls, the majority of Russians (78%) actually have time to try alcohol at an early age. At the same time, 25% of them drank at the age of 12-14, 22% at the age of 15-16, 20% at the age of 16-18, and 11% started drinking alcohol before the age of 12. The early involvement of minors in alcohol consumption is becoming a key factor in the formation of addiction, deterioration of health and social maladaptation, the explanatory note says. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the risk of alcoholism in those who started drinking alcohol before the age of 15 increases four times compared with those who started later.
The topic of combating alcoholism in general has recently become relevant due to the fact that on December 8, Vladimir Putin approved the strategy for the development of healthcare until 2030. Among other things, the document sets a goal to reduce alcohol consumption to 7.8 liters of ethanol per capita.
At the same time, the only working method that affects alcohol consumption by teenagers is well-established communication with parents, child psychologist Nadezhda Rezenova told Izvestia. In her opinion, it is necessary to focus on the psychological education of adults, because it is the atmosphere in the family that has a direct impact on the behavior of the child.
"Neither punishment, nor intimidation, nor bribery work in adolescence," the expert is sure.
Moreover, in the case of fines for adults who bought alcohol for a teenager, the children themselves are not punished, so there is no educational effect.
— When we want the situation with a teenager to change, it is necessary that the consequences of drinking alcohol become a problem for him, and not for some uncles or aunts, - says the psychologist.
Obviously, an increase in fines will not be able to definitively solve the problem of child alcoholism, because in practice sanctions come solely as a result of preventive police raids, which are not carried out everywhere and not on a regular basis. So, just a few days ago in St. Petersburg, a 46-year-old man became involved in a criminal case because of the purchase of three cans of beer to a minor, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Northern Capital and the Leningrad Region reported.
What do the government and the State Duma factions think about the bill?
The initiative of the deputies is submitted to the Parliament for consideration together with the government's response. It says that similar ideas have already been proposed in previous years, so the government's position and comments have not changed since that time. In particular, we are talking about a draft law by Alexei Kurinny, a deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who also proposed to tighten administrative responsibility for involving teenagers in alcohol consumption.
The review stated that the bill needs conceptual refinement due to the fact that the explanatory note does not provide evidence that the current fines are ineffective. As a result, the bill was rejected. The same fate awaited the initiative submitted to the State Duma by the Udmurt State Council. The government gave a negative review to it, but the document itself was not accepted.
At the same time, as already mentioned, the topic of child alcoholism has been raised more than once by parliamentarians of different factions. For example, for a long time, Fair Russia has been advocating for an increase in fines and the introduction of criminal liability for those who sell alcohol to teenagers. When discussing the draft law of the Udmurt State Council, the deputies of the SR were also ready to support it.
United Russia noted that the current fines are sufficient to prevent children from buying alcohol. The problem that teenagers "easily or very easily" acquire alcohol on their own seems to be more urgent, EP deputy Sergei Chizhov told Izvestia.
— The threshold of availability of such a product remains low in many regions. The ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors is most often violated by small retail outlets, the so—called stalls," he said.
However, previous bills on increasing fines for buying alcohol for children were not supported by the State Duma, not only because of the government's position, but also because of the conclusion of the relevant committee on state construction and legislation. They were essentially repeating the same arguments as the government. It is possible that a similar fate may await the current initiative if the deputies do not finalize it.
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