An attempt is made to determine distances to interstellar clouds by a method free of the limitations of the conventional method (using the galactic rotation curve). It is shown that the term delta, given by the square root of the ratio of the half width of the OH absorption lines to the antenna temperature, varies linearly with the distance R to the absorbing clouds. The slope of the straight line delta(R) depends on the width of the directional diagram of the radio telescope. An interpretation of the dependence is proposed. Examples are given of the use of delta(R) to determine the distances and kinematic method, the dependence delta(R) makes it possible to obtain unambiguous distances to interstellar clouds that are undistorted by peculiar motions. 26 references.