Kommersant: Russian drivers have figured out how to return their licenses taken away for driving “under medication”

Journalists learned that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, after last year’s decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, declared illegal several deprivations of the rights of drivers who were punished for driving a car under the influence of potent drugs.

As Kommersant reports, motorists have found a way to return their rights using a constitutional loophole. Until November 2022, Russian courts took away drivers’ licenses after detecting traces of non-narcotic and non-psychotropic drugs. However, the judges of the Constitutional Court pointed out that the Code of Administrative Offenses does not have a provision providing for the punishment of drivers for taking medications, and the legislation does not have a specific list of drugs incompatible with driving.

Now the Ministry of Health intends to compile a list of drugs that reduce the reaction, including anesthetics, sleeping pills, antiepileptics and sedatives. In the summer, clarifying amendments were submitted to the State Duma for consideration, but the time frame for their consideration is unknown.

The publication’s journalists also found several similar decisions to return drivers’ licenses. Thus, a resident of Barnaul was deprived of his license after traffic cops stopped him in October 2020 and drew attention to strange behavior and unclear speech. Hospital doctors discovered that the man was taking the opioid analgesic tramadol. According to the car owner, the doctor prescribed him the drug Zaldiar. As a result, the man was deprived of his rights, while the court appealed to the instructions for the medicine. The Supreme Court later overturned this ruling.

A similar case occurred in the Rostov region, where the driver was found to have traces of tramadol and gabapentin (a drug for the treatment of epilepsy – editor’s note).