In Irkutsk, deputies proposed bringing back labor treatment centers and sobering up stations to fight domestic drunkenness more effectively. Duma chairman Andrey Labygin supported the idea, noting that such a sobering up station already operates in Angarsk, and its experience could be studied and used in the regional center. The article explains why these institutions disappeared in the 1990s and why their return is relevant again.

The problem of domestic drunkenness is acute in our city, as it is everywhere in Russia. Deputies of the Irkutsk Duma have proposed that the authorities pay closer attention to it. The city administration and law enforcement agencies were asked to restore the system of medical labor prophylactoriums and sobering-up stations. This proposal was supported by the Chairman of the Irkutsk Duma, Andrey Labygin, who noted that such a sobering-up station already exists in Angarsk.
This is reported by the press service of the city Duma.
"A sobering-up station is not only a place where a drunk person can be saved, for example, from frostbite, but also where public censure can be imposed. In Soviet times, this was a measure of influence that kept many from complete degradation," said Andrey Labygin. The deputies decided, together with the city administration, to study Angarsk’s experience and try to implement it in Irkutsk.
The mass closure of medical sobering-up stations began during perestroika. The new authorities considered this a violation of human rights and believed that such institutions should operate like European rehabilitation centers, where people with alcohol dependence seek help voluntarily. But there was no money in the budget to maintain such institutions.
Vitaly Pevzner, head of the department for special police facilities and escorting of the Irkutsk Region Internal Affairs Directorate, commented on the situation as follows: "They wanted to create a social rehabilitation center on Furye Street, even found premises and staff, but that was where it all stalled. Since then, every year we write requests to the governors, but one leaves, another comes, and the matter still does not move off dead center."
As a result, the deputies decided, together with the city administration, to study Angarsk’s experience and try to implement it in the capital of the Angara region.