The traffic police has updated the instructions for medicines

The police will temporarily not initiate cases against drivers whose bodies contain traces of drugs that are not related to narcotic or psychotropic drugs. The traffic police sent such recommendations to their regional departments. We are talking, for example, about phenibut, phenazepam, a number of antidepressants. The guidance follows a recent ruling by the Constitutional Court (CC), which banned lower courts from penalizing drivers who drive after taking certain types of drugs. The ban will be lifted when the State Duma adopts corrective amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the text of the letter to the regions signed by the head of the State traffic inspectorate Mikhail Chernikov. He proposed not to send materials to the courts under Art. 12.8 (drunk driving) and part 3 of Art. 12.27 (use of alcohol, drugs or psychotropic substances after an accident) of the Code of Administrative Offenses, if during the medical examination traces of “medicinal substances” that do not contain alcohol, drugs or psychotropic substances were found in the driver’s body. Proceedings in such cases should be terminated due to the absence of corpus delicti. The authenticity of the document was confirmed to Kommersant by two sources.

Mr. Chernikov’s directive is connected with the position of the Constitutional Court, which considered the request of the Salekhard City Court (YaNAO), made public at the end of November. It is connected with the case of Vasily Shevelev, who, during a medical examination, had gabapentin in his body – a drug for the treatment of epilepsy, not related to narcotic or psychotropic. The court of first instance deprived Mr. Shevelev of his rights.

The Constitutional Court had to understand the legality of the practice that has developed in a number of regions. Doctors often find traces of drugs in the biomaterial of drivers who are sent by the traffic police for examination. And the courts punish with deprivation of rights and fines of citizens who used, in particular, phenibut, phenazepam and other drugs. But in the Salekhard City Court they noticed that the note to Art. 12.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses allows punishing the use of alcohol, drugs and psychotropic substances (the list of the latter is enshrined in government decree No. 681), but not for drugs.

The Constitutional Court checked and recognized Art. 12.8 of the Administrative Code does not comply with the norms of the Constitution. From November 27, the Constitutional Court ruled, the courts should not deprive the rights and impose a fine if the medical certificate says about drugs that are not psychotropic. Now, it follows from the letter of the traffic police, even the materials that could become the basis for the application of sanctions will not be submitted to the courts.

The resolution of the Constitutional Court and the letter of the head office bring clarity to the work of ordinary employees, says retired traffic police captain, founder of the public project “Overheard from the traffic police” Valentin Ilyinov. He spoke about the discrepancies caused by the order of the Ministry of Health No. 933n on the procedure for medical examination. This document says: if a medicine is found in the urine or blood of the driver (in the absence of alcohol, drugs or psychotropic substances), this fact must be reflected in the inspection report. But it does not indicate that the state of intoxication has been established. “This confused many inspectors. They, fearing possible responsibility for releasing the violator, sent materials to the courts. So that they can figure it out themselves,” Valentin Ilyinov explained. “The courts, in turn, had completely different practices in this regard.”

Recognizing Art. 12.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses is unconstitutional, the Constitutional Court, we recall, ordered the State Duma to “immediately” amend the Code of Administrative Offenses in order to punish drivers who abuse drugs to obtain an intoxicating effect, but not violate the rights of other citizens. The Liberal Democratic Party has already proposed to introduce appropriate amendments to the State Duma. The deputies want the Ministry of Health to establish a separate list of drugs (in addition to the already existing list of psychotropic drugs), the use of which while driving will be prohibited regardless of concentration. The bill has been sent to the Duma Committee on State Construction.

Ivan Buranov