The Supreme Court did not cheer up the drivers – Kommersant
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Motorists punished for drunk driving are trying to get their license back, citing a recent decision by the Constitutional Court (CC), which ruled temporarily not to punish citizens for driving under the influence of drugs. A driver from St. Petersburg went to the Supreme Court (SC), proving the illegality of the decision to confiscate the certificate for the psychostimulant pyrovalerone found in the urine (used, among other things, to treat apathy), which is prohibited for free sale in Russia. The Supreme Court clarified that the temporary ban on the Constitutional Court applies only to those cases where the drug is not psychotropic or narcotic, in other cases the punishment is absolutely legal.
The Supreme Court has published a ruling concerning the case of Maxim Safonov from St. Petersburg. On June 28, 2020, the traffic police officers who stopped the car driven by Mr. Safonov drew attention to the reddish face and strange behavior of the driver, follows from the court materials. The inspectors checked the alcohol content in the exhalation, but found nothing, after which they sent the driver for a medical examination to the doctor, since the signs of intoxication were obvious. In the analysis of the urine of Mr. Safonov, a substance called pyrovalerone was found.
The case file does not provide an explanation of the driver. This substance belongs to the category of psychoactive and is used for the clinical treatment of apathy or appetite suppression, narcologist Alexander Kovtun told Kommersant. It is a relatively rare psychostimulant. The only country where the use of pirovalerone is legal is Australia, in Russia it is prohibited for free sale, adds Roman Suleymanov, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychiatry at RUDN University.
One way or another, Maxim Safonov’s state of intoxication was officially established. The court deprived the driver of the rights on November 5, 2020. Mr. Safonov appealed the decision to the Third Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction, and then to the Supreme Court.
The driver, in his complaint, referred to the decision of the Constitutional Court of November 24, 2022 (“Kommersant” talked about him), which forbade courts to punish drivers for traces of drugs found in the body. The Constitutional Court found a legislative gap in the Code of Administrative Offenses that does not allow the use of this type of punishment (although many courts used it earlier). The traffic police, in connection with the decision of the Constitutional Court, has already banned inspectors from sending materials related to drugs found on drivers to the courts. This ban is temporary – until further amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses are made. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has already prepared a bill, now, according to Kommersant, the document is in the government and has not yet been submitted to the State Duma.
In any case, the ruling of the Constitutional Court does not apply to the case of Maxim Safonov, the Supreme Court considered, since this document only applies to cases when medicinal substances that are not psychotropic or narcotic are found in the body of drivers (for example, phenibut, phenazepam, some antidepressants). Pirovalerone is included in the list of “narcotic, psychotropic substances and their precursors”, approved by government decree No. 681. The same list includes heroin, cocaine, morphine and codeine. In this regard, the Supreme Court recognized the decisions of the lower courts as legal and upheld the punishment of Maxim Safonov.
The lawyer of the Freedom of Choice movement, Serhiy Radko, suggests that there will still be attempts by motorists to use the decision of the Constitutional Court, but they are “obviously doomed to failure” if the case materials refer to substances on the list of narcotic or psychotropic.
According to the traffic police, in 2022, 18.3 thousand drivers were identified in a state of drug intoxication (18.7 thousand in 2021). For three months of 2023, 138 accidents were recorded in Russia, in which motorists who used drugs participated.
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