October 18, 2021

Fair Trade


Fair Trade
If your alcohol comes in clear plastic bottles with white caps, that's a bad sign. Boxes full of turned-in booze in Orenburg. TASS

Orenburg city officials are getting creative in finding ways to drive down instances of alcohol poisoning in their city. After all, man does not live on moonshine alone.

Local government has begun a program to trade illicit alcoholic beverages for groceries. Those with bottles of home-distilled drinks can drop them off at one of a chain of grocery stores and receive food in return. Not only will this get the potentially tinted beverages off the streets, authorities say: it'll also help drive down Orenburg's yearly cases of alcohol poisonings.

Given the generally very, very, very low quality of homemade brew, even Russian media thinks participants are getting a deal by receiving food worth many times more than the moonshine, and without the hangover.

If you happen to be an Orenburg home distiller, maybe it's time to turn to baking?

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