Estonia declares war, hic

A month-long campaign about alcohol organized by the Estonian Health Institute and focused on people aged 25-45 asks “How much do you drink?”. Some experts say the campaign is misguided. “It should be ‘how much CAN you drink,’ not ‘do you drink,’ " says Ulo Suureots, Director of the Department of Alcohol at the Ministry of Economy. Ivo Vaikesalu, President of Estonian Brewer’s Association agrees. “It should be ‘can,’ as in ‘cans of beer.’ "
According to Eurostat, the average Estonian drinks 12 liters of pure alcohol per week, along with five bottles of vodka, and 40 bottles of beer. This is twice as much as is considered possible by the World Health Organization and gives Estonia the 2nd position in total consumption worldwide after Russia, which has 187 million more drinkers. The campaign, financed by the Estonian Social Fund, will be launched next week by the Miller Girls, who will pass out brochures, along with free beer samples in bars across Estonia. Asked whether an alcohol awareness campaign should cooperate with breweries, Ulo Suureots said “it’s the only way we could afford to carry out the campaign. And anyway, beer’s not really alcohol.”