The restoration of the system of medical sobering-up stations is once again being discussed in Russia.

      Originally they were reformed under the slogan of humanization of specialized agencies of the Soviet type. However, the transfer of 1.2 thousand sobering-up stations from law enforcement to medical agencies led to the fact that they simply disappeared. However, Russians drink in the same way. And those who are picked unconscious in the street are now taken to the emergency rooms of conventional district hospitals.

      What it looks like in practice was described in Wednesday at a “round table” named “Does Russia need sobering-up stations and at whose expense?” by the Head of the Department of Drug Abuse Treatment and Legal Foundations of Narcology of the National Science Centre for Narcology of the Ministry of Health of Russia Boris Tselinskiy. According to him, a third of the citizens delivered to hospital are really in need of medical care. Some have severe intoxication, others have aggravated concomitant diseases (e.g., cardiac disease). The rest of these are the so-called situational consumers who do not need medical care. These are household drunks or even those who drink rarely, but overrated their strength. Still they should not be left alone in the middle of the street in cold weather.