SCANNING shop shelves in the Kazakh village of Karakuduk, locals will not find a drop of alcohol due to a prohibition movement growing in popularity across the Central Asian country.
"We don't sell any alcoholic drinks. If you want something to drink, we've got water, juice, fizzy drinks and fermented milk," said Aigerim Mukeyeva, who owns a shop in the village of around 650 people, located in central Kazakhstan's vast steppe.
Like many ex-Soviet republics -- particularly its neighbour Russia -- Kazakhstan has long-standing problems with alcoholism.
The country's authorities are keen to promote healthy living and have supported moves to establish "dry" villages such as Karakuduk -- although there is no legal ban on alcohol sales.
The country's interior ministry lists 97 "sober" places, half of them in the vast industrial Karaganda region, where Karakuduk is located.
But local media have reported that even larger numbers of villages have gone alcohol-free. Although most Kazakhs are Muslim, religion does not appear to be a major factor in the prohibition push.
The country is a secular state, influenced by decades of Soviet atheism. Officially, the authorities are not imposing prohibition. A police spokesman told AFP that the impetus "comes from the people".
The decision to go dry is usually proposed by influential local elders, who act as a form of social control in Central Asian societies, often in conjunction with the state.
The fear of judgement by such community leaders can act as a powerful incentive for people to quit booze.
"The only shop here that sold alcohol closed a few years ago, due to lack of demand," Karakuduk mayor Bauyrzhan Zhumagulov, a former special operations police officer, told AFP.
He admitted, however, that he had quietly suggested to shop owners not to extend their alcohol licences.
In other places, people have used more radical methods. In the village of Abai in central Kazakhstan, locals removed bottles from shelves and ceremonially smashed them.
"We're against... vodka!" the mayor and a group of villagers shouted, pumping their fists, before throwing the bottles into a metal bin, footage on state television showed.
In another village, Aksu in the north, police used a bulldozer to smash 1,186 bottles from a shop that had been secretly selling alcohol at night.
Statistics on Kazakhstan's alcohol consumption are incomplete.
The World Health Organization says that alcohol consumption is equivalent to 4.5 litres of pure alcohol per adult per year. The government says it is 7.7 litres.
Vodka and other spirits are typically 40 per cent alcohol. The impact on society is easier to measure.
Authorities say alcohol abuse is cited in half of all domestic violence cases and is the most commonly cited reason for divorce.
Some 90,000 people -- 0.5 per cent of the population -- have been officially registered as alcoholics.
The prohibition drive fits in with official measures taken to curb unhealthy lifestyles in recent years, such as banning the sale of alcohol, energy drinks and tobacco to those aged under 21.
Local media have hailed the effectiveness of dry zones, reporting that officials noted a drastic fall in bad behaviour in "model villages".
In Karakuduk, police commander Kuanysh Kalelov claimed "the crime rate is zero".
"The young people in the village have a healthy lifestyle," Mayor Zhumagulov said, showing off his flagship projects. These include a new gym "for a sober village" and a clinic "built on the initiative of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev".
To dissuade locals from simply stocking up in the regional capital of Karaganda, just 30 kilometres (18 miles) away, police remind them they face a fine of around 35 euros (US$38) for being drunk in a public place.
"I work on prevention," said police chief Kalelov, who patrols the village's pot-holed streets in his white Lada car, preaching the dangers of drink-driving.
The interior ministry has confiscated the driving licenses of 12,000 people this year alone for being drunk behind the wheel.
In Karakuduk, locals seemed enthusiastic about the dry regime -- though gauging public opinion is tricky.
On their reporting trip to the village, AFP journalists were shepherded by security service officers -- standard practice in Central Asia.
"Drinking never does you any good. Young people should stay far away from alcohol," said Maksat Bitebayev, a farmer in his 30s.
But Serik Bakhayev, 68, a supermarket server, recalled: "Before, we used to get a beer in the summer when it was hot."
Now residents can quench their thirst with kumis, a popular drink made of fermented mare's milk, prepared by local farmer Indira Egenberdieva.
"It's on sale everywhere," she said. "The shops buy it from us and some customers come from Karaganda."
* The writer is from AFP