People started drinking more — treating themselves: a boom in anti-alcohol pills in Russia

In Russia, sales of medications to combat alcohol addiction have increased sharply – Russians are massively buying up the drugs amid growing alcohol consumption and fear of control by the authorities.

This is reported by Russian media, citing data from the analytical company RNC Pharma.

In the first half of 2025, 553.2 thousand packages of anti-alcoholism drugs were sold in Russian pharmacies. This is 13.5% more than in the same period in 2024, Russian media reported, citing data from the analytical company RNC Pharma, Glavkom writes.

In monetary terms, the growth is even more impressive – sales volumes jumped by 37.8%, reaching almost 540 million rubles. For comparison: for the whole of 2024, about a million packages worth more than 878 million rubles were sold in the country.

Pharmacy chains confirm this trend. For example, in one retail chain, sales of alcoholism medications increased by 48% in monetary terms and by 29% in kind over the past six months. Another chain reported a 53% increase in revenue and 32% in the number of packages, without disclosing specific figures.

The reasons for the rapid demand are not only the growth of alcoholism, but also social anxieties. Part of the population prefers to be treated independently, avoiding official appeal to narcologists. The reason is the fear of losing anonymity. According to the new rules, starting from March 1, 2026, Russia will expand the functionality of the Unified State Information System in the Sphere of Healthcare (USIS). Patients with mental disorders, including alcohol dependence, will be automatically entered into the database, even those who turn to private medical institutions.

Thus, many Russians try to avoid recording their diagnosis, fearing negative consequences — including problems with employment or access to social services.

At the same time, statistics confirm the overall growth in alcohol consumption. According to the Central Research Institute for the Organization and Informatization of Healthcare of the Russian Ministry of Health, the average level of consumption in March 2025 reached 8.41 liters per person, which is 2.4% more than last year. Sales of strong alcohol, according to the results of 2024, rose by 10.2%, reaching 3.2 liters per capita – this is the highest figure since 2017.

Recall that the war against Ukraine, sanctions, and increased spending on the military-industrial complex led to an increase in prices for basic food products in Russia.

As reported, problems continue to grow in the agro-industrial sector of the Russian economy. There is a threat of a shortage of late-harvest vegetables due to a lack of seeds.

In addition, since July, Russia has stopped publishing population figures, births, deaths, marriages, and divorces, in order not to draw attention to the demographic crisis.

By the way, in the first half of 2025, 805 new funeral companies were registered in Russia – this is 16% more than in the same period last year.

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