Mongolia’s Police Department in association with the “AA” club NGO is running a campaign against alcoholism in the Khovsgol province. As a result, the number of alcoholics who wish to quit drinking has increased day by day, a Police official said.

“Many people drink too much in an attempt to escape routine life, forget their troubles, or to ‘heal’ their sorrow.” “Alcoholism is a disease, and it can be very, very hard for alcoholics to fight the addiction,” the NGO staff said, underlining that they are “helping these people to avoid alcohol addiction.”

Also, alcohol is responsible for 72 percent of violent crimes in Mongolia and largely contributes to domestic violence, according to the police. Khovsgol province’s police department said that in the first two months of this year 430 drunken people were arrested and retained in jail to sober up, and that the number of crimes has increased by 16.9% against the same period of 2009.

The police department in conjunction with the World Vision international NGO have also organized a training session called “Family-2010” under the framework of implementing the Mongolian Law Against Domestic Violence and abuse.

Mongolia has only one state-run rehab facility for people who want to quit drinking, but its capacity is very limited to face Mongolia’s population alcohol problem. The facility can only welcome 50 beds patients at a time, or about 1,800 patients a year, which is far less than needed.