In Russia, the number of drug addicts has been decreasing over the past three years. How did you manage to achieve this, what will the appearance of sobering-up stations give, will the introduction of testing employees of enterprises for drugs and alcohol affect the country's economy, and why is marijuana more dangerous than vodka? On the eve of the International Day against Drug Addiction and Drug Trafficking, which is celebrated twice a year - on March 1 and June 26, these and other questions of Izvestia were answered by the director of the Moscow Scientific and Practical Center for Narcology, the chief psychiatrist-narcologist of the Russian Ministry of Health, Professor Evgeny Bryun.
fashion for success
Almost 400 kg of cocaine found in the Russian embassy in Argentina could theoretically end up in our country. How critical would that be for us? After all, couriers are usually detained with small batches of several hundred grams.
Well, almost a ton was detained in Spain, so it happens from time to time when law enforcement is doing a good job, getting intelligence. But 389 kg is a lot. And nothing good would happen if this cocaine got into Russia.
- In recent years, have we become more or less drug addicts?
They became less. For 2–3 years now, we have noted that the situation is stabilizing, the number of drug addicts is decreasing by 2–3%. The vast majority of patients in our clinics are heroin addicts. And their number is declining, this entire contingent is aging, the young do not come. It is encouraging that in the age group of 15-18 years, the demand for drugs, alcohol and tobacco is declining. This suggests that the number of patients will be less. We noticed this trend not yesterday, but in 2013-2014.
- What explains this?
Generations are changing. And when the new generation sees older brothers and sisters dying from drugs, there is a reverse wave.
- Did they begin to completely go away from use, or did some kind of replacement take place?
Partially there is a replacement: a lot of spices, synthetic drugs that come from abroad. Fortunately, in Russia there is practically no production of "synthetics". And if there is, then in a meager amount. All synthetic drugs are exported from China and Europe through the Baltics.
- At what age do they most often start trying "synthetics"?
Journalists like to talk about the fact that the consumer is getting younger, they start writing horror stories. But the average age of starting drug trials is about 15-16 years old.
- Some time ago there was an idea to introduce total drug testing in schools. Was she rejected?
No, she stays. In many subjects of the Russian Federation, this idea continues to be developed. In Moscow, the task was set to increase the number of tested schoolchildren and students. These are all students from the age of 12-13 to graduation age. Probably, economically it is a difficult story. But the fact of the existence of a system of prevention is important. This just helps to reduce the demand for drugs.
- Is testing voluntary?
Voluntary, but when we speak properly to parents, they convince their children to get tested. We work not only with mothers and fathers, but also with teachers and schoolchildren themselves. Now it is becoming fashionable to be “clean”, it is fashionable to be successful, to study well. My grandson is 12 years old. In his school, among students of this age, the fashion suddenly went to be excellent students. They sit at night, teach, get fives, compete. This fashion for success will continue.
high degree
The Ministry of Health is trying to reduce the use of alcohol and drugs, but all these measures are restrictive. For example, the same "sober villages". But some alternative is needed. What are people to do?
Agriculture. Again - the idea of success: to earn money, to produce a product for sale. This is not a new story: at the end of the 19th century there were “sober counties”. Zemstvo assemblies of some counties, especially in what is now called the Non-Black Earth Region, made decisions not to sell alcohol on their territory. Tsarist troops were brought in to maintain a monopoly on the sale of alcohol. Nevertheless, this practice existed and is being resumed now. I think it's wonderful.
- But more than a hundred years have passed, but the problem remains.
I will say more: before the First World War there were about 400 temperance movements - public organizations. By 1918 they dissolved themselves. Because they decided that they had fulfilled their task: Russia is sober, and alcohol is practically not for sale.
- Many countries are following the path of legalization of soft drugs. Russia can come to this?
No. We and Japan will be the last to legalize drugs.
- Why is marijuana more dangerous than vodka?
Psychosis, disability. People who regularly use marijuana cease to be socially active, cease to be members of the family, society, production.
- Alcohol also causes psychosis and disability.
This argument is always present, but alcohol can be taught to use. Unfortunately, such programs do not exist in the media. The family passes on the tradition of drinking alcohol in small doses, with a certain snack, with certain rules.
Yes, with the free sale of alcohol, approximately 2% of the population will suffer from alcoholism, but with the free sale of marijuana, half of the population will suffer from drug addiction. With the free sale of heroin, 98% of the population will suffer from heroin addiction. There are patterns. Narcotic substances have been used for more than 40 thousand years. But there was a severe taboo on their use, they were used only for certain magical purposes. We do not know how many years humanity has been drinking alcohol, but not less than 7 thousand years. It was also a magical product, and it was also under a fairly strict ban. Although that alcohol was very weak, with a low content of ethanol - usually beer or wine.
At one time, narcologists said that among young people the risk of beer alcoholism is high. But this has not become a mass phenomenon in our country, has it?
Beer in Russia is a by-product, mostly strong drinks are drunk. Cold. We didn't switch to wine either. But there is hope that the share of wine consumption will increase. It will be a good alternative to hard liquor. But in Russia there is a fashion for whiskey. They drink less cognac, and if they drink it, then in small doses, and they drink a lot of whiskey. Vodka and whiskey are the main products.
- Is it related to the climate?
Including.
sober approach
- Are narcological services preparing for the World Cup?
We are always ready for any number of patients. Last year, the Confederations Cup was held, but there were no drug problems in connection with this. Not a single drunk or poisoned brawler was recorded. There was a knife fight, but it was not related to alcohol.
In Moscow and the cities hosting the championship, there are strong narcological services, everything is ready. If there are patients who have been poisoned by alcohol or have gone over the dose, they will go to narcology and toxicology. It can be both guests and our compatriots. But I think that there will be such a strict control that there will be no special problems with this.
- For many years there have been talks about the revival of the system of sobering-up stations.
Sobering-up stations - will be.
- When will they open?
I can’t say for sure, since this is not the decision of the Ministry of Health and not the narcological service. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection will deal with sobering-up stations. But it has already been practically decided that the system of sobering-up stations will be created anew. In some cities they will exist within the framework of a narcological institution, in some - they will be independent municipal institutions, somewhere - under the social protection authorities.
- Do you think sobering-up stations are needed?
I think it's a good thing. For people who need isolation due to alcohol poisoning and misbehavior, sobering-up stations are needed. The issue is handled differently in different countries.
In Germany, the police transport drunk citizens home for their own money, playing the role of a taxi. But when there are sufficiently severe behavioral disorders against the background of alcohol intoxication, they are taken to the police station. In our country, some people will also end up in police stations, and some will go to sobering-up stations.
- In Moscow, sobering-up stations will belong to the narcological service?
No, to the department of social protection of the population.
- Earlier you said that an ambulance for drunk people may appear in Moscow.
This is not an ambulance, but emergency home care. It will appear very soon - in April we will launch a trial team. The most important task is not just to go to the patient who has taken alcohol, but also to carry out preventive work on the spot. If necessary, hospitalize, motivate to give up alcohol or continue treatment.
- Will it be a paid service?
No. This is free emergency home care at a narcological institution - the Moscow Scientific and Practical Center for Narcology.
- Will they take you out of drinking at home?
Certainly. They will do everything that is now being done by private firms and not always correctly.
- Will there be one such car for the whole of Moscow?
Any clinic starts with the first patient, any ambulance starts with the first car and the first brigade. There will be no special equipment there - just styling: droppers, solutions. The team will have a narcologist.
Checking for purity
- Do you participate in the creation of a healthy lifestyle strategy of the Ministry of Health?
Certainly. On our part, we are talking about significant preventive measures. We have covered all the students and identify among them drug users who abuse alcohol, tobacco, and conduct propaganda in medical institutions. Now our task is to enter labor collectives. This is what we are doing now as well.
- We are talking about testing employees of enterprises for alcohol and drugs?
Yes. There is already experience at the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant, at some other enterprises, but so far this testing has not become widespread. Now we are working to enter all labor collectives and carry out preventive work there.
First of all, we are talking about hazardous industries, but coverage should be total. Where the male population works, the prevalence of psychoactive substance use is quite high. Drugs to a lesser extent, drug addicts are still the non-working population, and smoking and alcohol are a big problem among the employed. Chronic alcohol abuse leads to death at a working young age. This is scary. Plus, a decrease in overall labor productivity, marriage, absenteeism. All this is quite a big burden on our economy.
Another vector for the development of narcology is somatic hospitals. Together with Norwegian researchers, we conducted a parallel multicenter study, worked in one of the Moscow hospitals and found that 15% of people who abuse alcohol are patients in somatic hospitals. Most likely, they got their diseases due to excessive alcohol consumption. These are cardiology, pulmonology, gastroenterology. 6% of hospital visitors are people who use drugs or psychopharmacological drugs without a doctor's prescription: sleeping pills, barbiturates, tranquilizers.
- Will testing in labor collectives be voluntary?
Everything will be voluntary. My idea was to include items on the prevention of drunkenness and alcoholism in collective agreements at enterprises. Each employee undertakes not to use alcohol or tobacco at the workplace, to undergo examinations at the request of the administration, perhaps agreed with the trade unions. The third point is that an employee is not fired if he is treated for addiction and recovers. There must be some kind of social security. Unfortunately, employers are only interested in getting rid of these people, and not in their health care.
- Is the introduction of such testing economically justified?
At first, of course, it will be costly. Americans have been doing this for a long time in enterprises. The International Labor Organization and WHO promote such programs. In the West, it is believed that one dollar invested in the prevention of drunkenness and alcoholism at the enterprise brings three dollars of profit. Whether it will be so in Russia, I do not know. But I know that the country is losing up to 5% of GDP due to alcohol and drugs.
- Is this a purely Russian problem?
Everywhere is the same, everywhere people are the same. Muslim countries also have these problems, especially in more democratic countries like Turkey, Kuwait. I was told about Iranian citizens who go to misbehave in other countries. They take off the veil and start drinking. That's tourism.
- In Russia, the situation with alcoholism depends on the region?
Certainly. In Moscow and economically developed centers they drink less: there is work, there is where to invest money. But, unfortunately, we are poorly oriented in small towns with a population of less than 30 thousand people. Narcology is not represented there, there is practically no monitoring. It is very difficult for us to say what is really happening there, but we believe that the situation is not very good.
- And where are more drug addicts?
Addiction is where the money is. At the same time, there are not very many of them in Moscow, but in St. Petersburg, oil-bearing and gas-bearing regions, where the population has a lot of money, this is a serious problem.
- That is, by raising the standard of living, reducing drug addiction cannot be achieved?
Yes it is. But drug addiction and alcoholism disappear when there is a good national idea. During the Second World War, the numbers of alcoholism, drug addiction and even acute manifestations of schizophrenia plummeted.
When there is mobilization, the enthusiasm of the people, common tasks that unite people, all these manifestations decrease.
The elusive "synthetics"
- With the abolition of the State Drug Control Service, the situation has not changed for the worse?
No. The Main Directorate for Drug Control is now part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. When the Federal Drug Control Service existed, it had tasks that were different from those of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They were more engaged in strategy, analytics, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs still caught criminals. When they were reduced, everything became a function of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Argentine case suggests that everything is in order.
- Are there services that monitor the emergence of new synthetic drugs?
Certainly. They are part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Experts complain that novelties appear so quickly that they do not have time to create tests for new drugs.
Yes. Tests for new drugs do not exist anywhere in the world. This is a big problem. But we still identify them, it's just very expensive and time consuming. Rapid tests for new substances really do not exist. One molecule changes, the old test no longer works, there is no new one. By the time it is invented, it will already become obsolete, since there will be a new substance. This is a dead end, so we go to others: we identify these molecules by chemical means. A reference center has been created in Moscow on the basis of our chemical-toxicological laboratory, where, among other things, we identify new molecules.
- How many new drugs appear a year?
Up to 50. This is a lot, so chasing them is completely impossible. We have good stable tests for well-known popular drugs - cannabis, heroin, cocaine, amphetamines.
- Is it possible to identify a drug addict without tests - by clinical signs?
Yes. If a teenager's whole system of life breaks down, most likely it is drugs or a catastrophic psychological or psychiatric problem. In any case, this is an occasion to turn to specialists and try to identify the problem and its depth.
In October 2011, the last sobering-up station closed in Russia. This event could be celebrated and even celebrated, if ... If such a decision were made because we have dramatically reduced the number of "those who need to be soldered with brine and sniffed with ammonia." But, alas, the number (in Russia - 2.2 million officially registered alcoholics - more than the unemployed! And their real number, according to health workers, is 5-6 times more, that is, every thirteenth citizen of Russia is a drunkard!). In Europe, with which we are called to follow an example, on the contrary, they go in the opposite direction: sobering-up stations do not close, but massively “expand”.
To drink - to harm the whole country!
What did our original "anti-sobering" step lead to? Where are the drunken Russians being “taken away” from the streets now? Why did not alcoholics, but “non-drinking citizens” suffer massively from the abolition of sobering-up stations? - AiF correspondents found out.
“We saved not only drunks!”
“Do you remember how funny the foreign professor said in the Autumn Marathon? “What is the name of the house where I slept? Sober? - A ruddy policeman in the district police department, located three steps from my house, laughed so much that he turned red and looked like a client of this very "sober" person. I was not funny. A week ago, I came to him to ask what to do with a homeless person who, as soon as he gets drunk, comes to sleep and puke in my porch. Drunk grabs children by the legs. He pees on bicycles and strollers, coughs and itches so that it is clear that not only he has tuberculosis, but also his lice.
“Well, this is, -, - the essence of the recommendations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after the sobering-up stations were closed, such. If a person is in a mild degree of intoxication, preventive conversations are held with him. Who are conducted? Well, the precinct, if he is nearby. Not near you? Attract the elder on the porch. If a drunkard is a hooligan - call the police squad, they can draw up a protocol. After all, being drunk in a public place is a crime.
When the drunk is really bad, so that he can’t even move, this is already a task for the ambulance. Does he suddenly die? And I don't know what to do with your alcoholic bum. He's not a violent hooligan, is he? Change the lock on the door." We did not have time to change the lock - our drunken bum attacked ... the duty officer at the entrance, who came to have a preventive conversation with him, as we were advised by the police. The ambulance had to be called not by him, but by her.
“Yes, some sobering-up stations in Russia have discredited themselves - they beat people and robbed people there. But, excuse me, the situation in the police departments is much more criminal, but they are not liquidated at the same time! - He speaks Petr Menchenko, candidate of medical sciences. - Previously, it was clear what to do with a drunk found on the street or in the entrance - he was taken to the nearest sobering-up station. Now the police must "by eye" determine the degree of his intoxication and decide where to go to the hospital, to the police station, or "leave him in nature." But diagnosis is a very complicated thing, many doctors are mistaken, what can we say about the police! How many cases have there been when people with a weak heart were sent to stations instead of hospitals - and that's it! There are no statistics on deaths “due to the wrong place of sobering up”! Someone will say: there is no need to spend state money on alcoholics, it is better to buy toys in an orphanage! That's right, but... By sending violent citizens to sobering-up stations, we saved not only them. We saved their children and relatives from drunken assault, passers-by on the street - from attacks, robbery and murder. Do you know how many crimes are committed while drunk?”
According to official statistics, every fifth crime in Russia is committed. According to unofficial, and therefore more "popular" data, every second criminal who grabs a knife or an ax is drunk. Up to 80% of domestic crimes are committed while drunk! And they are the most cruel, bloody and insane. Drunken grandfathers kill their grandchildren “who have been possessed by the devil”, drunken mothers throw babies out the windows, drunken teenagers throw a knife at their grandmothers for the sake of 100 rubles ...
Drivers who have taken on their chests are no less dangerous than “domestic maniacs”. During the period from January to September 2011, 9055 accidents occurred in Russia due to fault, as a result 1510 people died, 13 301 were injured! How many lives could be saved if drunkards were isolated in time and given at least some sleep?
Drunk people attack doctors too!
“Now we mostly pick up drunks on the streets,” he is indignant. resuscitator of the ambulance team Viktor Goranin from Novosibirsk- and it's a disaster. Why? Because there were not enough ambulances, and now just imagine how many people, balancing on the verge of life and death, do not receive medical assistance on time due to the fact that we are forced to collect drunks! Without a doubt, there are cases when people in a state of intoxication need highly qualified medical assistance. But it must be provided in special institutions, as they do in the West, and not in ordinary hospitals to the detriment of the rest! Drunk people in our country break cars, and knock out windows, and attack doctors with fists. And sometimes they just sleep peacefully, so the question arises: what to do with such people? They are not sick, they stupidly need to oversleep. And hospitals are overcrowded, doctors are overwhelmed - how, where and why should I find beds for drunkards? “You should have seen what is happening in the waiting rooms now! - adds Inna Rudenko, nurse. - Drunk people tend to be aggressive, lashing out at staff and other patients. We have to call the police, who sent them to us! A vicious circle of insanity. The reception and registration of drunkards take the budget and time. Previously, they were fined - now they give sick leave. So who refuses to drink again, so that they also heal for it?
"They need a narcologist!"
St. Petersburg is a special city in the history of sobering-up stations, the first Soviet “sobering-up facility” was opened in 1931 right here, on Marat Street (isn’t it about him the lines of Rosenbaum’s song: “I was once happy on Marat Street”? ). St. Petersburg doctors are categorical: the country cannot do without new sobering-up stations. With our unpredictable weather and predictable Russian cravings for booze.
“The country, instead of the old sobering-up stations, needs new institutions where doctors will work together with the police,” says head Psychiatric Department of the Institute of the Human Brain Yuri Polyakov. - Doctors in such institutions must be present without fail. If a person in a state of intoxication was taken from the street, he did not just drink a glass. He needs the qualified help of a narcologist, and not a paramedic, as was the case in medical sobering-up stations. After all, detoxification not carried out on time can lead to serious consequences or death. Not to mention the hidden injuries that drunks often have.
From the editor. It's one thing - if we closed sobering-up stations as part of the most severe, it's another thing that this happened against the backdrop of an increase in the pace of alcohol production and alcohol propaganda. Such a double morality: we will sell you booze anywhere and as much as you like, but to take you somewhere from the shop or to protect children from drunken fists - thank you. He drank himself - he is a fool. But maybe then all venereologists in the country should be abolished: after all, based on this logic, a good person cannot catch a bad disease?
How are they
Are you drinking? Here's your bracelet!
Rachel Lawrence, London City Hall press office (Crime & Policing):
There have been sobering-up stations in London for several years. They are on the balance of the Ministry of Health, not the police, and work only during the holidays. All social forces insist that these centers work year-round, and their number increases. A completely new program, which was adopted at the end of February and will come into force this summer, is the so-called "Sobriety Program", proposed and developed by London Mayor Boris Johnson. In 2010-11 more than half, that is, about 1 million, offenses and crimes in London were committed while intoxicated! If the offender was sentenced to prison, but during the investigation it turned out that the person was in a state of "I don't remember anything", then he will be offered an alternative - dry law in the truest sense of the word. A special bracelet will be put on a person, which monitors the level of sobriety of its owner. Once a person drinks more than the norm again, the bracelet will send a signal to the central computer at the police station, and after that the original court verdict, that is, imprisonment, will come into force.
In France, "sobering-up chambers" exist at every police station. Even minors and “only slightly tipsy” are allowed to be placed in sobering-up stations - to prevent drunk driving. For example, gendarmes often guard drunken citizens near restaurants and send them to “sobering-up chambers” when they shout “Yes, I drank three glasses of everything!” intend to drive. The initial fine for a "drunk brawl" is about 70 euros, for further involvement, which is important, it is increased many times over.
In Finland, sobering-up stations are warm houses with heated floors. Their main purpose is to protect a tipsy citizen from freezing and frostbite in cold weather. There is a special disposable mattress in the cell, a drain hole in the floor, in the morning the hungover client will be washed. The price of "drunken processing" is about 300 euros.
History reference
Would you like pickle or ... a gramophone?
“Before the revolution, nothing was worth anything in Russia,” says historian Igor
Nalchik. - “Drunkies” were soldered with brine, with heart disorders they were given camphor, and those who wanted to have fun were even allowed to ... start a gramophone! There were two departments in the "drunk shelters": an outpatient clinic for the drunks themselves and ... a special shelter for children whose parents were in the first department. All those who “sobered up” were fed and watered, and they were also provided with clothes and shoes if their own became unusable. How to explain such tender care? The fact that the authorities were concerned about the frequent "drunk" of the working class: in this state, a person could catch a deadly cold, and the country could lose a valuable specialist. So the worthy maintenance of sobering-up stations was a matter of national importance.”
It was the case
Belarusians could not resist
In Belarus, in 2002, an attempt was made to close sobering-up stations. All problems with heavily drunk citizens were shouldered by medical workers of health care institutions. But this practice did not catch on. After 8 months (!) The sobering-up stations reopened their doors for "guests".
Today, there are 25 medical sobering-up stations throughout Belarus. Over the past year, they were visited by about 65.5 thousand people. Moreover, this figure has practically not changed over the past five years, said AiF. Deputy Head of the Supervisory and Executive Activities Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Denis Semenets. Contrary to stereotypes in sobering-up stations, “nothing terrible” is done to people. No one beats them, does not leave them on the cold floor, does not treat them with psychotropic substances. All 25 sobering-up stations have round-the-clock video surveillance. If you have any questions, you can always refer to the video. Drunk people are delivered to the sobering-up stations not only by the crew of the sobering-up station, but also by patrol policemen, ambulance doctors.
Medical sobering stations are financed from the republican budget. However, according to the law, all expenses are reimbursed by the person who got into the sobering-up station, no later than a month from the date of discharge. In case of non-reimbursement of expenses within the specified period, expenses are recovered on the basis of the notary's executive inscription.
Materials prepared by: Margarita Stewart (AiF-Europe), Victoria Dzhukhunyan (AiF-Belarus), Olga Salnikova (AiF-Petersburg)
Editorial responseFor the 2018 FIFA World Cup, all cities in Russia that host the championship will start working sobering-up stations - special medical institutions where people who are detained in a state of intoxication are delivered.
“Such departments will be in the structure of narcological institutions. This is especially for people who find themselves in different life situations, ”said RT Chief freelance narcologist of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation Evgeny Bryun.
According to him, the sobering-up stations will be located at the narcological departments, however, each region will have to decide on its own whether the sobering-up stations should be attributed to the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Ministry of Health.
AiF.ru tells what sobering-up stations were in the Russian Empire and the USSR.
History of sobering-up stations
The first sobering-up station in Russia was called the Shelter for the Drunk. It opened on November 7, 1902 in Tula and was supported by the city treasury. The main purpose of the shelter was to rescue drunk gunsmiths freezing under the fence.
The shelter consisted of two departments: an outpatient clinic for drunkards and a shelter for children of drinking parents. The staff included a paramedic and a coachman. A few years later, similar institutions appeared in many provincial cities.
A sobering-up chamber at the Moscow part of St. Petersburg. Photo taken before 1914. Photo: Public Domain
In the USSR, the first sobering-up station was opened on November 14, 1931 in Leningrad on the street. Marata (house number 79). March 4, 1940 by order People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR L. P. Beria medical sobering-up stations were withdrawn from the People's Commissariat of Health and subordinated to the NKVD.
According to Soviet laws, the sobering-up station was “a specialized police agency that performs the functions of suppressing violations of anti-alcohol legislation, and, in particular, the appearance in public places of persons in a state of intoxication, if their appearance offends human dignity and public morality, or if they have lost the ability to move independently, or could harm others or themselves, and provide them with emergency medical care.”
Police squads, consisting of two policemen and a driver, were engaged in collecting drunks on the streets. The outfit drove a car with the inscription "Special Medical Service". The outfits were forbidden to participate in the analysis of family conflicts and deliver drunks home.
But not all drunks could be sent to a sobering-up station. “Deputies of the Soviets of People's Deputies who are in public places in a moderate or severe degree of intoxication are handed over to the representatives of the respective Soviets; military personnel and persons liable for military service called up for training, dressed in uniform or in civilian clothes and having identity documents - to representatives of the military commandant's office; employees of the internal affairs bodies, state security and the prosecutor's office - to the relevant representatives; Heroes of the Soviet Union or Socialist Labor, persons awarded the orders “For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR” of three degrees, Glory of three degrees, Labor Glory of three degrees, are transferred to relatives ... Women with obvious signs of pregnancy, disabled people with obvious signs of disability are sent to medical institutions." Also, foreign diplomats and persons suspected of committing crimes were not taken to the sobering-up station.
Inspection and provision of medical assistance to the delivered citizens was carried out by a paramedic. A protocol was drawn up based on the results of the inspection and search of those delivered. Then the sobered-up people were placed in the wards.
After the delivered person sobered up, and his identity and place of work were established, a fine was levied from him, and if it was impossible to pay, he was given an appropriate receipt with instructions for payment, after which the person was discharged.
Receipt for medical care in the sobering-up station. Photo: Public Domain
In Russia, since the mid-1990s, there has been a process of reducing the number of sobering-up stations. In October 2011, all special institutions in the country were closed. The Ministry of Internal Affairs transferred their functions to the Ministry of Health.
Why did you decide to close the sobering-up stations?
The closure of sobering-up stations was associated with the ongoing reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the transfer of functions unusual for the police to other departments. Since 2011, the care of drunkards has been completely shifted to the Ministry of Health and Social Development. According to the reform, if a person is in a state of mild or moderate intoxication and does not violate public order, the police are obliged to escort him home, brawlers - to deliver to the internal affairs departments for further proceedings, and citizens in a state of severe intoxication - to be sent to medical institutions .
How do sobering-up stations work in other countries?
In France, "sobering-up chambers" exist at every police station. Even minors and “only slightly tipsy” are allowed to be placed in sobering-up stations for prevention.
In Finland, sobering-up stations are designed to protect a tipsy citizen from freezing and frostbite in cold weather. The price of "drunken processing" is about 300 euros.
In the UK, sobering-up stations are run by the Ministry of Health, not the police, and are only open during public holidays.
In Canada, there is a special service "Red Nose", which brings tipsy people home, however, for money. If a person is in a state of severe intoxication, then he will be taken to the hospital.
In most US states, the police do not have the right to detain people who are intoxicated unless they are breaking the law, as this is considered a violation of human rights.
The Soviet man, the builder of communism, was supposed to have a "high moral character", and not be delivered "under the arms" of the police to sober up.
Getting into a sobering-up station could ruin a person's career, deprive him of prospects and damage his reputation. But sobering-up stations did not differ in sanatorium conditions in and of themselves. 
How did sobering-up stations appear in the USSR?
The only major Soviet city that did not have a sobering-up station was Yerevan. There were no such establishments in Armenia at all. In other parts of the Soviet Union, one sobering-up station was placed for every 150-200 thousand people.
In the Soviet Union, "receivers", as they were then called, appeared in the early thirties. They were supervised by the People's Commissariat of Health. Their employees were doctors, not policemen. In the first sobering-up stations, doctors did not always know how to draw up a “contingent”. For example, it was not clear what to do with alcohol found in the presence of citizens. From a distance there was even a circular, according to which the unfinished was returned to those who overslept in the morning.
In the fortieth, Beria, by personal order, transferred the sobering-up stations to the subordination of the NKVD. Paramedics remained in them, examining those delivered, but policemen also began to watch.
How did you get into sobering-up stations?
The main task of the sobering-up stations was considered to be the maintenance of detainees who offended "public morality" by their appearance and behavior. Everyone who drank alcohol, walked down the street, staggered, or could no longer walk, was put into cars with the inscription “Special Medical Service”.
The units that served sobering-up stations, like other Soviet organizations, had a plan that needed to be carried out. Therefore, at the end of the quarter, they seized and sent to the sobering-up stations everyone who smelled of alcohol. They were on duty at dance floors and restaurants, near factories and institutions. On payday, the “teams” did not sit without a catch.
During the period of Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign in Moscow alone, more than 300 thousand people passed through sobering-up stations a year. For help in capturing violators of public order, activists were rewarded with coupons for scarce alcohol.
Several times “drunken riots” were recorded in the Union: when two people died in sobering-up stations “under unclear circumstances” in Murom and Shymkent, thousands of people went to storm police stations. The tragic death in the back of a "special transport" of several people served as the beginning of the "Dneprodzerzhinsk revolution" in 1972.
What happened in the sobering-up stations?
Depending on the location of the sobering-up station, the conditions in them could vary greatly. Usually the arrivals were seated on special benches, sometimes they were tied if they could not sit. Then they took money and documents, took pictures, wrote down personal data, recorded the degree of intoxication. Next is undressing. No one followed the "care" - all the wardrobe items were pulled off with a jerk, the buttons flew in different directions. In some places, the poor fellows were also sheared “under zero”.
Finally - an ice shower and laying on a bunk in one of the rooms. If we were lucky, there were blankets and pillows on the couch. Particularly violent were tied to beds. Women were placed in a special room.
In the morning - a mandatory wake-up call. Vysotsky sneered at her: “It’s not a rooster who wakes up in the morning, crowing, - / The sergeant will raise, that is, like people!” The identity of those who could not tell anything about themselves the day before was ascertained from the policeman on duty. The paramedic conducted a re-examination.
All "guests" were issued a penalty receipt for their stay. Many regular customers sometimes accumulated amounts of several hundred rubles. Under Brezhnev, the "resort" cost 10-25 rubles, gigantic money with an average salary of 120-160.
What was the danger of getting into the sobering-up station?
Drunkenness was actively fought from the first years of Soviet power. The number of posters about the dangers of drinking alcohol is in the dozens. "Squads for the fight against tavernism and drunkenness" introduced the practice of photographing those seen "drinking", and decorated their portraits with special boards of shame at the checkpoints. The fate of getting on such a board threatened later and threatened clients of sobering-up stations.
A “signal” that a certain worker or student spent the night in a sobering-up station was sent to the place of work or study instantly. The incident was already known in the morning. This was followed by a party or Komsomol "study" at the meeting, ending with a severe reprimand. For those who wanted to make a party career, this was a very serious punishment.
The threat of expulsion hung over the student if the offense was repeated. The average Soviet worker could lose his bonus and "thirteenth salary", he was pushed back in line for an apartment. He could also forget about preferential vouchers to a rest home or sanatorium. Therefore, those who had money sometimes paid off such “happy calls”.
If a person ended up in a sobering-up station several times a year, then he was sent to a narcological dispensary or a hospital department for examination. He was also threatened with an LTP - a medical and labor dispensary.
Who was not taken to the sobering-up station?
They did not take away minors, disabled people and pregnant women. If a person had delirium tremens or injuries, then he was supposed to be sent immediately to the hospital.Military personnel, police officers, and state security agencies were “surrendered to their own”. The commandant's office was supposed to deal with the military. Tipsy deputies of the Soviets of People's Deputies were also handed over to the representatives of the Soviets. In both cases, punishment was inevitable anyway.
Foreign diplomats were also deprived of the dubious pleasure of spending the night in a sobering-up station: under the conditions there, the case threatened to turn into an international scandal. But ordinary foreigners sometimes got into sobering-up stations, and then remembered the “adventure” for a long time.
The only category of citizens who were taken home and given to their relatives were holders of the highest orders and Heroes of the Soviet Union. Order-bearing alcoholics would also cast a shadow on the image of the Soviet state. Relatives had to deal with their drunkenness.
Sobering-up stations became part of Soviet culture. Suffice it to recall the films "Autumn Marathon" and "Afonya", satirical film almanacs, works by Shukshin and Vysotsky, monologues of satirists. The people composed jokes and songs about these establishments.
This institution has the status of a special medical institution. This is not a secret facility and there are no experiments on people here. People themselves experiment on themselves, and then they end up here - in a sobering-up station. If you are "lucky" to end up in a sobering-up center, you should remember your rights and be able to formulate them.
The legal grounds for placing citizens in a sobering-up station are contained in the resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 1985 "On strengthening the fight against drunkenness." It says that “persons who are in public places in a moderate or severe degree of intoxication can be placed in a medical sobering-up station if they have lost the ability to move independently or can harm others or themselves.” The Soviet Union has been gone for almost 15 years, and the decree continues to be in force (no one has canceled it), although it contradicts all subsequently adopted laws.
So, for example, the Fundamentals of Russian legislation on health protection recognize the right of a citizen to refuse medical intervention, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation prohibits the imposition of paid services (100 rubles must be paid for staying in a sobering-up station), and the Constitution of the Russian Federation generally prohibits depriving citizens of their freedom, except By the tribunal's decision. Moreover, the law “On the Police” does not provide for such units as sobering-up stations in the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Code of Administrative Offenses does not mention such a punishment for appearing drunk in a public place as placement in a sobering-up station.
That is, the legality of the existence of sobering-up stations raises questions. However, until the court declared their existence illegal, there are 13 sobering-up stations in Moscow (12 male and one female). They are listed in the structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. And every day, guided by a joint order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the Ministry of Health of the USSR of 1985, explaining the effect of the decision of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces, policemen deliver drunken citizens to these institutions.
The grounds for this are formulated in six paragraphs of the order. It is enough for a policeman to find a citizen drunk and make sure that he speaks obscenely; is in a public place in an untidy form; shows obscene gestures; allows harsh cries; annoyingly sticks to others; has an unsteady gait. Agree, the wording is rather vague: not a single law explains what exactly should be considered a rude cry or an indecent gesture.
Not enough places for all
However, in order to get into the sobering-up station with all the formalities, impudent behavior and vodka smell from the mouth are not enough. You need to have the necessary degree of intoxication - at least average.
According to the current instructions of the Ministry of Health, the average degree of intoxication is the state when the alcohol content in a person's blood exceeds 1.5 ppm. If it is less, there is no formal reason to place a person in a sobering-up station, and they are obliged to let him go (though, immediately after that, they can be taken to the police and “register” the rest of the “exploits” as antisocial behavior).
For a man weighing about 90 kg, in order to reach a state of moderate intoxication, on average, it is enough to drink half a bottle of vodka and “polish” with two or three bottles of beer. We can say that no outstanding abilities are required for this. It fits perfectly into the scenario of celebrating the old New Year in a circle of colleagues and like-minded people.
The head of the medical sobering-up station No. 1 of the Northern Administrative District of Moscow, police lieutenant colonel Alexander Sivakov, said that in the capital all sobering-up stations are located in such a way that it would not be far to deliver any city dweller from any district. Nevertheless, getting into this special institution is quite difficult: the number of beds in Moscow sobering-up stations is from 15 to 31, that is, no more than 300 people can be in them at the same time. If there is no place in the nearest sobering-up station, they will take you to where the place is. If there is none anywhere in Moscow, they will be taken to the "monkey house" at the police station, because appearing in a public place in a drunken state is an administrative offense. But if there is a place, the sobering-up station will serve anyone, regardless of registration and citizenship.
You can be taken to the sobering-up station by a police patrol or the crew of the sobering-up station, which will be called by neighbors or just passers-by by calling 02 or the local police department. Each sobering-up station has at least one machine; its crew consists of three people: a driver and two policemen for the selection of drunkards - that is what their position is called. This car either drives through the streets, looking for customers, or purposefully leaves for calls, working out the signals received. Anyone can call the police and report a citizen who drank and, relaxing, fell asleep on the lawn.
Upon admission to the sobering-up station, the client will be asked for some document. If it is not found, they will require the name and address. It is better to tell the truth - after all, it is very simple to check the information by calling the address bureau by phone. But to deceive, naming the name of a friend, is not worth it. Fraud is easy to detect, and you can be sent to a reception center for persons without a fixed place of residence. If the client is not disposed to the conversation and the words are given to him with difficulty, identification will be postponed.
Further, in the presence of two witnesses, a protocol is drawn up, which describes what the client was wearing, what valuables and money he had with him. By the way, if, after sobering up, you did not find information about witnesses and their personal signatures in the protocol, feel free to sue. This is a serious procedural violation. According to lieutenant colonel Sivakov, for such an omission, an employee of the sobering-up center can be reprimanded, demoted, or even fired.
The paramedic will ask the arriving client to blow into the breathalyzer tube and record the stage of intoxication in the protocol. In addition, a drunken citizen will be asked to write with his own hand what exactly he drank (if the client cannot write, but even “mother” cannot say, the employees will wait until he comes to his senses). Anything can be written. It is only necessary to take a handwriting sample. The fact is that the placement in the sobering-up station can subsequently be challenged in court and compensation for moral damage can be achieved. To do this, immediately after you are released, you need to go to the drug treatment room, which is in every district.
There you will have to pass urine and blood tests. The breathalyzer measures the alcohol content in the exhaled air, according to its indications, you can be discharged from the sobering-up station. And blood and urine tests show even a small residual alcohol content, and according to special tables, you can restore the state of intoxication at the time of detention.
If no traces of alcohol are found, you will have to go to a special commission at the county drug treatment hospital, which meets once a month. The "drunken protocol" will also be sent there. At the commission, narcologists and experienced graphologists will decide whether you were drunk at the time of admission or not. If the commission decides that it is not, you can sue and demand back your 100 rubles, as well as seek compensation for moral damage.
For all the time he served in the sobering-up station since 1996, Lieutenant Colonel Sivakov remembers one single case in Moscow (by the way, in his sobering-up station), when a citizen managed to prove that he was sober. And then Mr. Sivakov believes that the citizen simply outwitted everyone: he gathered his will into a fist when he wrote an explanatory note, and knew what needed to be done so that the re-analysis for alcohol showed nothing.
Unobtrusive service
Lieutenant Colonel Sivakov believes that spending the night in a sobering-up station is much better than in a police "monkey".
Firstly, because a citizen who has ended up in a sobering-up station is not yet formally an offender. He will become him later, when a message about the night spent in a special medical facility comes to the police department at the place of residence (and it will come for sure). That's when the head of the police department, at his discretion, either confines himself to verbal suggestion, or writes out a fine (for being drunk on the street, the Code of Administrative Offenses provides for a fine of 100 to 500 rubles).
And secondly, it is unlikely that you will be able to sleep at the police station: there are no beds there, it is unlikely that they will be there to make sure that the client is not crippled, and you never know what audience will be brought there with you - unwitting neighbors can rage all night.
In the sobering-up station, no one is limited in the ability to call relatives or friends so that they come and pick up the client from the special institution. Employees will give the drunk with pleasure - they have less trouble. They will take the prescribed 100 rubles - and go with God. True, there was a case when a man was delivered, and then his wife came and asked for 400 rubles. hold it in the sobering-up station for the prescribed day, as well as three days "from above". Her husband drank for a week, and she wanted to take a break from his drinking. But, alas, the unfortunate wife did not go forward.
They will not inform you at work about your stay in the sobering-up station. No one is now being worked on at trade union meetings or at the party committee. Unless the personnel department itself sends a written request.
Surprisingly, this happens. For example, if the office has long wanted to fire an employee and are looking for a reason to do so. And here it is: an administrative offense.
The 100 rubles that will have to be paid for staying in a state-owned bed is not a fine, but payment for services. Such rates were established by order of the Mayor of Moscow back in 1994. You can pay on the spot (you will be issued a receipt after you sober up) or at Sberbank - within ten days after your release. True, citizens are not particularly in a hurry to go to Sberbank. According to Mr. Sivakov, his institution annually serves about 5,000 clients. And over the past three years, citizens have not paid for services totaling 234 thousand rubles. (debts for 2002 have already been written off). It turns out that every sixth does not pay.
Come in, they are waiting for you
One should not think that only degraded alcoholics and homeless people get into the sobering-up station (although, of course, there are a majority of such people among the clients of the sobering-up station). Mr. Sivakov told about a businessman who once ended up in a sobering-up station along with two bodyguards. They sat together in a restaurant, all three drank and ran into a scandal with the waiters. They called the police and the crew from the sobering-up station. The businessman tried to call his wife to pick him up, but his wife told her to sort it out on her own. So they slept all night: in the middle - a businessman, and on the sides of his bodyguards. Although drunk, they remembered their duty.
It happens that clients themselves ask for a sobering-up station. In any case, this is what Lieutenant Colonel Sivakov claims, who told the story of how one Belarusian businessman has come to Moscow for the third time to buy some goods. He brings with him a large amount of money, and is afraid to spend the night in a hotel - he believes that money can be taken away or stolen there. On someone's advice, last year he came to the sobering-up station and asked to spend the night. At first he was refused: after all, the petitioner was sober. A smart businessman found nearby and bought a “cheque” of vodka there, then returned and drank it in front of the sobering-up center employees. And again he was refused - this time because he behaved decently. Then he got down on all fours and began to bark at passers-by. Here the Belarusian was received with open arms. He handed over the money to the safe in front of witnesses, went to bed, and in the morning paid 100 rubles. and departed. Now the quick-witted businessman is a regular customer. After the New Year, it is expected for the fourth time.
It is believed that in the sobering-up station they are taken out of the state of alcoholic intoxication by medical means. But in fact, sobering up is done very simply: a drunken citizen is given the opportunity to sleep. Well, even before providing a bed, they will wash it with a hose with cool water, if necessary. After that, in some shorts (and women also in a bra) they will put to bed. Clothes will not be washed - only dried in a special closet. Breakfast is also not offered. And, for example, a pill for a headache in the morning can be obtained from a paramedic. Mr. Sivakov said that sometimes employees give their old things to outgoing clients: shoes, trousers. After all, people get into the sobering-up station in different ways.
According to the same order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, one will have to stay in the sobering-up station from three hours to one day. The decision to discharge is made by the paramedic. In theory, he should wait for complete sobering up - such that a person can be put behind the wheel of a car with a clear conscience. But in practice, if the “exhaust” is less than 1 ppm, the client is released: of course, he is far from the steering wheel, but he must get to the house on his own. In addition, sometimes it is simply not possible to wait for complete sobering up: it is forbidden to keep those delivered in a sobering-up station for more than 24 hours, and during this period alcohol is not always completely eliminated from the body.
The decision on both the admission and discharge of citizens is made by the paramedic. He is on duty around the clock. His presence is necessary not only to ascertain alcohol intoxication, but also for the input control of the client's health.
Paramedic Marina Lomanova explained that, according to external signs, a heart attack is very similar to moderate intoxication: a brown face, inability to stand, incoherent speech. And if a person has drunk even a bottle of beer before, then the smell of alcohol will be present. And here it is important to determine whether the delivered person is drunk or feels bad for other reasons. If the client has an attack of illness or is injured, it is forbidden to place him in a sobering-up station - you should call an ambulance, which is obliged to take him to the hospital. True, according to Ms. Lomanova, the ambulance teams refuse to pick up the drunks. Sometimes you have to call two or three crews in a row until someone can be persuaded.
It happens that sports fans get into sobering-up station No. 1: not far from the Dynamo stadium. Mr. Sivakov said that in this case, fans of different teams have to be separated into different rooms so that they don’t fight. And between the chambers there are policemen to control the chambers - there is such a position in the staff list.
For violent clients, the sobering-up station has a special room with a bed without legs. Particularly aggressive people are placed there, having previously tied their hands and feet.
