On November 21, RT was the first of the media to announce the plans of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of Russia to prepare new measures to combat drunken driving. This is what RT told the head of the traffic police, special events and law enforcement of the traffic police of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bykov.
The traffic police said that "the time has come" to introduce responsibility for the use of certain drugs that adversely affect the attention and reaction of the driver. Such motorists do not formally belong to drunk or under the influence of drugs, and therefore do not bear any responsibility. Meanwhile, in the SDA there is a direct ban on driving a vehicle under such substances, and therefore it is proposed to equate the use of a number of drugs from the point of view of punishment by drivers to the use of alcohol or drugs.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs sent its proposal to the Ministry of Health, where they should give the initiative a concrete form, preparing a list of substances and developing the procedure for their identification. All this will take some time, as well as the passage of amendments through the State Duma.
The initiative has caused a wide resonance in the expert community. So, the psychiatrist-narcologist Alexander Kovtun, who has extensive practical experience in conducting medical certification, told RT that there are several hundred drugs that actually inhibit the driver's reaction on the road, which creates a real risk of an emergency.
“The most relevant and most frequently encountered are those containing phenobarbital. These are Valocordin, Andipal, Pentalgin, Valoserdine. They are available without a prescription. In these cases, a person takes a substance with these drugs, which, when it is discovered, does not give a clear understanding, he was treated for something or taken as a drug. Phenobarbital itself is a drug. There is even such a term - barbitur addiction, ”said the specialist.
According to him, in 90% of cases we are talking about law-abiding citizens, but the Ministry of Healthcare here needs to develop clear guidelines for not bringing to justice the innocent. “Therefore, I hope these norms will be introduced taking into account all the nuances, within the framework of interdepartmental cooperation and taking into account public opinion,” Kovtun added.
Psychiatrist-narcologist with many years of experience, Sergey Polyatykin, in an interview with RT, noted that introducing punishment for motorists for the use of certain drugs should be done carefully so that a “club” will not turn out, which will “crush” innocent citizens.
“The main substance that we record in our practice is phenobarbital, which is part of Corvalol or Valocordinum. Theoretically, even nicotine in large doses can manifest itself during the examination, but, on the other hand, the concentration is immediately obvious - a substance was used for medical purposes or not, a person took 40 drops or consumed the whole vial per day. Our task here is to determine precisely whether it is a question of some kind of stable dependence or not, ”he said.
Polyatykin noted that those drivers who seek drunkenness in non-standard ways pose a serious danger on the roads.
“To stupefy a person can use a variety of substances, not only drugs. In my practice, I met those who "caught the buzz" from household chemicals of the Soviet type, from antistatic, stirring it with water. It is important to understand what to do with such people, because it is not a drug, not alcohol, but the effect is quite similar, ”the expert said.
According to the doctor, when you first identify illegal drugs - if there are no serious consequences - you should not be immediately deprived of rights, and, perhaps, be limited to a warning.
“To bring him to all the bases, and if a person gets caught again, then already boldly punish him to the full,” noted Polyatykin.
The expert notes that when developing the threshold values for each drug, it is important to remember that the substances act on different people differently.
“Here everything is like with alcohol. For someone, for example, representatives of the peoples of the Far North, 100 grams of vodka is just a huge dose, and for someone it will not have any effect. There are specific studies that show that 50 ml of alcohol for a short time increases concentration, sharpens attention. Each organism has an individual reaction to everything, ”summed up the specialist.
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Konstantin Dobrynin, a former member of the Federation Council, senior partner of the Pen & Paper Bar Association, also stresses that it is important to introduce changes in such a way that the innocent are not brought to justice.
“It is very important to separate the wolves from the sheep and make sure that the rights of respectable citizens are not infringed upon by the violators or the traffic police officers who sometimes abuse their rights and official status. I don’t say that driving a car, being pumped above the norm by phenobarbital, is possible, but it is important to understand that the sanction and responsibility must occur after a significant excess of the permissible rate - at times when the purpose of the admission is obvious and it is not related to treatment. And here a good legal technique is important, which is not yet visible, ”the lawyer said in an interview with RT.
The expert also stressed that the experts can pay attention to other drugs that have not yet been taken into account by the traffic police: “I, like a lawyer who once worked as a senator, have two questions. How, before proposing such a legislative novel, did they establish that there is some legislative gap here? How many accidents caused by Dimedrol over the past few years and how many of them have been fatal? Such dangerous drugs as nurofen and paracetamol remained uncovered. ”
Pharmacologist Alexander Ediger, the traffic police initiative fully supported. According to him, there are a number of drugs, in particular barbiturates, in which the effect is similar to the effect of alcohol.
“And this effect has been known to everyone for a very long time, both to doctors and consumers. These drugs greatly affect the reaction and attention even after a few hours after taking it. They also affect nervous activity. I can only welcome this initiative, which limits the use of medicines that affect the management of transport. These are ancient drugs, they are dozens of years old, and I do not know the situations when a doctor prescribes these drugs. Now there are more modern counterparts that do not have such serious side effects, ”he said.
Recall that the traffic police are also hoping that in the foreseeable future an All-Russian registry of medical contraindications will be created, where doctors across the country could enter data on those who are prohibited from driving.
“Technically, we are ready for this. The Ministry of Health hears us, but refers to the fact that in this case there will be a disclosure of medical secrecy. We understand this and do not ask for any unnecessary information, it is just important for us to know whether this person can drive a car or not, ”said Bykov on the eve.
The traffic police also offer to make mandatory the delivery of tests for those who have been deprived of their rights for drunk driving. At the present time, after the expiration of the deprivation period, such citizens visit a psychiatrist-narcologist, but the doctor himself decides whether the patient should be tested or whether there is no need for it and no additional studies are required.