A total of 34 people have died of alcohol poisoning in Istanbul after having drunk a bootleg liquor that is suspected to have been tainted with methanol. 23 of those deaths have occurred in the past few days. 43 have been hospitalized in total, with 32 of them ending up in intensive care.
Methanol is a toxic substance that’s sometimes added to illegally produce alcohol to increase its potency and to get you drunker faster. It’s a lot cheaper than ethanol, so that’s a plus. A slight negative is that it can cause blindness, liver damage, and as we’ve already seen, death.
Private alcohol production is heavily taxed in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Muslim fiercely opposed to alcohol. Since he came to power in 2014, Turkey has implemented strict alcohol laws, banning advertising and depictions of alcohol in media.
Paired with the heavy taxation of alcoholic beverages, some turn to good old-fashioned bootlegging to get their fix, which can be deadly if made incorrectly.
Poisonous Bootleg Alcohol Kills 34 in Istanbul
Alcohol poisoning from bootleg homemade liquors has been on the rise in Turkey. Clusters of deaths surrounding the consumption of tainted homemade alcoholic beverages happen every so often. In 2021, 22 people died and 16 were hospitalized after drinking poisonous alcohol.
Alcohol is legal in Turkey, it’s just expensive. The national spirit in Turkey is called the Raki, a clear spirit made of grapes and flavored with aniseed, giving it a black licorice flavor. A liter of Raki would run you 1300 lira per liter. To put that in perspective, on January 1 Turkey raised its national minimum wage to 22,104 lira per year.
Bootleggers, ever the opportunists, seize on the desire for cheaper—and unregulated—alternatives.
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