In a country where the average Russian drinks 18 liters (38 pints) of pure alcohol each year, President Dmitry Medvedev has put into effect a new minimum rate for his country’s favorite quaff. In the limping Russian economy he nearly doubled the price of a half liter of vodka, which jumped to $3.00 from $1.69, giving the country’s many heavy drinkers a hangover that will last well into the foreseeable future.

It’s a risky move politically to get between Russians and their vodka, as President Gorbachev discovered 24 years ago when he also tried to stem the toxic tide of alcoholism, public drunkenness, and alcohol-fueled crime by raising the price of the liquor. Ironically, it was also a risky proposition for the public health, as drinkers of the day responded by making dangerous home brews and drinking such deadly cocktails as sterno and rubbing alcohol.

Yet to do nothing is not an option, given the public health disasters caused by alcoholism: missed workdays, accidents on the job, poisonous home-brews, traffic fatalities, domestic and street violence, child neglect and abuse, prostitution, and suicide.

The average Russian drinks an astonishing average of 4.8 gallons of vodka a year; President Medvedev is determined to cut that average by 25% over the next two years, down to a more reasonable quantity of 3.6 gallons. It’s a modest proposal, when you consider the “improved” number: this is still way too much booze. It’s possible that even such reduced consumption would not significantly change these appalling statistics: 35,000 Russians die each year from acute alcohol poisoning; one in three men die before retirement age, and the life expectancy of a Russian male hovers around 60.

The fall of the Berlin wall and Gorbachev’s glasnost should have granted him laurels to rest upon for the rest of his life. But when he addressed the health crisis by raising vodka prices, his popularity drastically declined, production of bootleg vodka increased, and many people resorted to drinking perfume, which prompted its sale to be restricted along with vodka. But it also raised money for public works and, most importantly, no doubt saved some lives.

Then in stumbled Boris Yeltsin, an old-style two-fisted drinker who, despite his well-publicized habit of falling loudly asleep during policy meetings, managed to reverse Gorbachev’s reforms and sent the alcoholism rate back through the roof, where it sits today. Current statistics show that 38% of Russians between the ages of 20 and 39 suffer from alcoholism; between the ages of 40 and 59 that number jumps to 55%.

It will take more than price increases to lower these staggering numbers, but at least it’s a start. We can only hope that Medvedev is prepared to continue to battle his country’s alcoholism on a few more fronts before they kick him out.