Alcoholism in Serbia: There is not just "one more glass"

U Serbia according to data from the World Health Organization (from two years ago), about 11 liters of alcohol are consumed per capita per year, while the world average is six.

"Take one and roll" - the culture of alcohol consumption in Serbia is more than present, and for hosts who produce their own brandy, wine and other alcoholic beverages, not taking a drink when offered can be an insult.

"Our culture says you're not a man if you don't drink." I once experienced that the host did not want to sit with me because I 'didn't respect him'. I asked for juice instead of his brandy," Aleksandar Janić from the "Duga" rehabilitation center in Novi Sad and someone who has struggled with alcohol addiction told "Vreme".

He explains that he had big problems with alcohol and that he never drank a drop of alcohol again, and advises others that there is no such thing as "just one more drink" or "I'll have a little, I'm not long".

He says that "Duga" is an organization that has helped a large number of people who have problems with alcohol, but also that the number of people who have these problems is constantly high, and that the number is neither decreasing nor increasing.

"The problem is huge because it is not recognized as a problem and because alcohol is widely available," says our interlocutor.

What is his story?

Due to the ugly divorce of his parents and too harsh for his understanding, at the age of 17, Janić left his parents' home with a huge income. He played the guitar, and after that he started working independently as one of the first DJs in Yugoslavia. There were only four or five of them, he says, so they could dictate the prices.

After that came the nineties and in order to increase his income, he became the owner of the once popular discotheque "Devil" in Novi Sad. He borrowed money from people from whom, he says, "you don't borrow money", after which the war begins, and the discotheque stops working.

The partner ran away with all the equipment in which Janić had invested money, and because of the war, everything certainly lost its meaning, and the sale of that equipment would not work either.

"As such, I always had access to people who liked to come from the more dangerous to the ordinary." When I got into such a crowd, one of those people came with a bag, with a kilogram of heroin, and offered it to me for free in order to get out. Of course, I didn't sell anything from that, I got hooked."

Beginning of alcohol intake

The idea was to not be at home, and in my head not to be in real life. After 14 years of taking heroin, he starts drinking.

"You get up in the morning and the very thought of drinking alcohol makes your body revolt, you start vomiting and everything else along with it, but the brain says: 'Take it to feel better.' I lived like that for four years, and I also combined it with pills."

He tried nine times to be treated, and the last time he did not believe in the effect of the drugs, namely Esperal. When you drink alcohol after them, they cause nausea, epileptic attacks, and even death.

"I didn't believe it." I drank alcohol over it and dropped dead across the street from a big market. At that moment, an ambulance happened to be there. So I believe that thanks to God, and some say luck, I survived."

When asked why all this, Janić says "all from the attitude of being a dude and someone who is a mangup, and that is a very expensive price".

"Medicine has given up on us"

After 18 years of such a life, he joined an organization that was founded on the basis of Christianity and adds that there are only such organizations here, and not only here but also in the European Union, that deal with such matters because, he says, they feel that medicine has abandoned them. .

"There are no drugs for addiction. There are drugs for depression that are given to people who have problems with addictions, but depression is a classic companion of alcoholism, of all addictions."

He says that after so many years of work, the mechanism that is observed to help in the treatment of addiction is to go to an environment where one can be spared from temptation after medical detoxification, and thus adopt new ways of thinking and making decisions.

And about how someone decides that life must change, he says that it rarely happens that it clicks for someone that there must be a change, but "usually you hit a wall, you come to an end where you decide."

He began his treatment at the "Duga" Rehabilitation Center and it lasted for a year and a half, after which he decided to help others. So for 15 years, he has dedicated his life to helping others, and he also has his own family.

"I thought that my life was over, that it had no meaning and that everything was pointless, but this pain of mine gets meaning and purpose through helping young people."

Serbia does not take enough care of young people

He notes that in Serbia, everyone would pick flowers, but no one would water them - so he says that children are wonderful, but that we don't take care of them enough.

"I don't think the legal framework for selling alcohol to minors is working very well."

Another problem he states is that people's awareness of this problem is not enough, so it is easy to outsmart and ask someone to sell alcohol.

"Sometimes it's more love to say no than yes."

He also concludes that the problem is also the law that talks about alcohol advertising in the media, so everything is offered directly or indirectly.