Periodic drunken life of a person and his immoral behavior in society cannot go unnoticed. In order to isolate such individuals and ensure public order, a special institution called LTP was developed back in Soviet times. People who abused alcohol went there for compulsory treatment. As the re-education of these citizens is taking place on the example of the Republic of Belarus, our article says.
What is LTP?
The organization, which is part of the system of internal affairs bodies of the Republic of Belarus, is aimed at the compulsory isolation of people convicted of prolonged alcoholism, as well as their medical and social adaptation. The work is based on the mandatory involvement of such citizens in work. Similarly sent to the rehabilitation of patients with drug addiction and substance abuse.
Legislation
Not everyone is familiar with decoding what LTP is. This is a medical and labor dispensary. The main question is whether staying in a remote institution helps, does it change the views of those who have gone the wrong way?
Forced isolation is regulated by the following documents:
- The Law "On the procedure and conditions for referral to medical and labor dispensaries and the conditions for being in them" No. 104-3 of 4.01.2010.
- Decree of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus dated 10.07.2002 “On the issues of recognizing a person as a patient with alcoholism, drug addiction or substance abuse, the procedure and conditions for providing medical care to patients”.
- The Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Belarus No. 238-3 of January 11, 1999.
- Decree of the Supreme Court "On the practice of the courts reviewing cases of forced hospitalization and treatment of citizens" No. 7 of 06.30.2005.
Case review
What is LTP, in Belarus, every patient with chronic alcoholism knows who at least once got into a detoxification center or was detained by government officials for rowdy and immoral behavior in a public place. If the violation of public order is repeated with frequent periodicity, then after several warnings a subpoena will be followed to consider sending this person to the LTP for a year.
In accordance with the Civil Code, a citizen can be sent to a specialized dispensary only after the court considers the submission made by the district or other authorized person, signed by the head of the territorial internal affairs body or his deputy at the location. If there are no grounds for refusing the application to initiate proceedings, the court shall issue a ruling on preparing it for trial. How to get direction in LTP will be discussed below.
Legal aid
Most often, people who have been convicted of alcoholism do not require legal protection, but they themselves are able to defend their rights, or do not have time to take care of attracting a lawyer because of the speedy consideration of the case. If a person whose case is being examined by a judge is against his stay in a labor dispensary and wants his lawyer to defend his rights, and also has witnesses who can prove that the authorities did not prepare a referral to the LTP of Belarus, he has the right to write a request to postpone the consideration of the case for search for a lawyer and conclusion of an agreement with him on the provision of legal assistance. In this case, the judge goes forward and is ready to listen to all the arguments, get acquainted with the positive characteristics presented, take into account the testimonies of the witnesses. If the evidence indicates that the person fell into such a situation by accident and does not need forced isolation, a refusal in the direction of him to the LTP may be issued.
Reasons for referral to treatment
In decoding what LTP is, there should be no difficulties. As indicated above, this is a medical and labor dispensary, where citizens are sent, whose diseases (drug addiction, alcoholism) are documented and confirmed over a long period of time. Any person from the street cannot be brought to court and sent to the dispensary for work treatment without reason. The person in respect of whom the case is being considered has the right to familiarize himself with the case materials before the trial. Documents must contain grounds for applying measures:
- Medical report. It includes a medical examination of citizens by order of the head of the internal affairs body or his deputy. A person who is referred to the procedure may appeal this decision by writing a statement addressed to a superior or prosecutor. The doctors’opinion can also be challenged in court, by filing a counter motion for a forensic drug examination. In this case, it is necessary to indicate why the person does not agree with the previous conclusion.
- Copies of issued decisions on administrative penalties for offenses committed by a citizen while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. It is important that there is a note in the document on the establishment of the fact of being stupefying at the time of commission. If there are doubts about the validity of the decisions made, the citizen has the right to challenge the veracity of the document. There is article 182 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Belarus, according to which the facts in the decision on an administrative offense are not prejudicial. They are checked during the trial. Therefore, it is important to know not only what LTP is in Belarus, but also about your rights and opportunities.
- Documentary warning by an employee of the internal affairs bodies about the possibility of sending a citizen to a medical dispensary (in case of non-observance of public order and a change in lifestyle). In such a protocol, there must be a note of the person in respect of whom he was drawn up that he is familiar with this document. This decision can also be appealed by writing a statement addressed to a superior or prosecutor. If this action has not been taken, it means that the citizen is considered to agree with the warning and took note of it.
Documentation
Decoding LTP makes it clear that this institution is based on medical assistance to citizens, in the first place, and labor therapy is an additional element of rehabilitation. In this regard, in order to send a needy person to such a dispensary, it is necessary to document him as a patient with chronic alcoholism, substance abuse or drug addiction. Thus, first a medical report must be issued, where the disease is confirmed, and after that a warning about the possibility of placing a citizen for compulsory treatment.
This person must have the following documents:
- Information about his marital status and the presence of dependent children.
- Copies of birth certificates of minor children.
- Taking a course of treatment for drug or alcohol dependence on a voluntary basis.
- Extract from the medical record about the state of health.
The consideration of the case in absentia is impossible. Be sure to attend a representative of the internal affairs bodies, as well as a person in relation to whom an idea has been drawn up about sending to the LTP, the abbreviation of which was deciphered above.
Who is sent to a medical dispensary
The law approved a list of persons who may be placed on forced labor treatment:
- Persons in whom the disease is alcoholism, substance abuse or drug addiction is documented. Persons who have been brought to administrative responsibility more than three times a year after committing offenses while intoxicated or under the influence of psychotropic or other intoxicating drugs. These people were warned about the possibility of being sent to LTP (as translated, indicated above), after which they were again attracted for similar offenses. However, they were in an inadequate condition.
- Citizens who are obliged to pay the expenses spent by the state for the maintenance of children on state security, in case they violate labor discipline of a systemic nature due to the use of narcotic drugs, alcoholic beverages or intoxicating substances.
Who is not being sent to LTP
There is a list of persons who, for any lifestyle, are not subject to referral to LTP. What are such people doing? Why are they not referred for treatment? The following persons belong to these categories:
- Pregnant women. Bearing a child is the reason for registration with a narcological medical institution (if there is a dependency), but a refusal to isolate.
- Women who are dependent on children under the age of one year.
- Juvenile teens. Their health and behavior is controlled by the relevant authorities, but they can only be sent to LTPs when they are 18 years old.
- Elderly people who have reached retirement age.
- Disabled people 1 and 2 groups.
- Citizens who have diseases that prevent them from staying in a medical dispensary, as well as such diseases that cannot be treated in LTP (stands for medical labor dispensary).
When considering a case in court, the documents submitted from the clinic are necessarily studied. If it turns out that a citizen has a serious illness that impedes being in an LTP, then a refusal to satisfy the application for sending this person to compulsory treatment will follow.
The list of such diseases includes: chronic kidney complications, endocrine system diseases, blood poisoning, hepatitis, pericarditis, pneumoconiosis, syringomyelia, epilepsy, paranoid personality disorder, dementia, malignant tumors, as well as eye diseases. What is neuropathy of the oculomotor nerve? In this case, is LTP prohibited or not? Damage to the nerve of the eye can be congenital and acquired. With this disease, a person can not control the movement of the pupil. With such a diagnosis, strabismus and diplopia quickly develop, which limits the usual life activity. Such an ailment can also be the result of heart disease, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and aneurysm. All diseases that give the right to be exempted from referral to LTP are indicated in the resolution of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus No. 53 dated 10.07.2002.
Appeal decision
After the judge has listened to the side of the representative of the internal organs, as well as the opinion on the direction of the person concerned to the medical and labor dispensary, a positive decision or refusal is issued. A citizen has the right to file a complaint about the decision. His representative (if any) can do the same within 10 days from the date of the decision or its reasoning.
Return to sober life
How LTP is translated is known to many, since in my life I had to deal with this institution. The medical and labor dispensary is an extreme measure to prevent alcohol abuse in the population. It is hard to see how healthy, able-bodied men get drunk. Dozens of people around a drunkard suffer from this. Limiting the sale of alcoholic beverages and stopping the production of cheap fruit species played a role in improving the dynamics, but did not cure addicted people.
In Belarus, Turkmenistan and Transnistria, the Soviet method of combating alcohol dependence is still practiced in the form of labor therapy and isolation from society behind an LTP fence. Previously, this was widespread throughout the expanses of the Soviet Union. At the same time, for some time this method was an effective option for combating alcoholics.
Soviet time
Drinking was a serious problem in Soviet society. Many crimes were committed precisely under the influence of alcoholic beverages. What is LTP in the USSR? Previously, it was called a kind of "prison" for drunkards, which were created in the mid 60-ies of the last century. The first dispensary opened its doors in Kazakhstan in 1967, although other evidence suggests that this happened in 1974. The results were successful. Therefore, soon such institutions began to open throughout the USSR. The goal was to re-educate a person, develop a stable sense of abandonment of alcohol, and accustom to work. Forced treatment was perceived calmly in society.
They could be sent to a closed institution for a period of six months to two years. Citizens abusing alcoholic beverages, as well as those who lead an immoral lifestyle, could violate public order amid drunkenness (this wording was indicated by a resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR). If a citizen was repeatedly forced to violate public order (he made a brawl in public or drunk driving a car), what is LTP, he could learn from personal experience. Then the forced re-education of drunkards was welcome. LTP in those days did not appear as medical organizations, but were under the supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the system of penitentiary institutions (prisons, pre-trial detention centers, and colonies).
Fell for what in LTP in the USSR? Such a measure of exposure has been applied to fatal alcoholics. In Soviet times, not every booze was sent for treatment. This could be done on the basis of a statement from relatives or after the sixth hit in the detoxification center. The citizen was initially sent to the medical commission, where the question was decided whether he needed compulsory treatment. In the case of a positive decision, the court ruled on the isolation of the alcoholic in the LTP.
Some patients themselves expressed a desire to go to the dispensary, where treatment was prescribed (they gave the drug Antabus, valerian and painkillers, sometimes they underwent a course of reflexology). The treatment process, which implied the development of an aversion to alcohol, happened this way: the patient was injected with a special drug that arouses intolerance to hard drinks, after which the patient was offered to drink a little alcohol. As a result, vomiting opened. This procedure has been practiced more than once.
The elimination of free labor
What is LTP in Soviet times? The institution looked like an ordinary building with rooms in which bunk beds were located. The isolation mode was in effect. It was possible to see relatives and friends once a week. Vacation was granted only in the event of the death of a relative or natural disaster.
Free from treatment, the person worked. Alcoholics were sent for agricultural work to collective farms, to factories and plants (cleaners, movers). Patients became free labor, so many businesses were the first to get the opportunity to host such workers. Only unskilled labor was offered; during rehabilitation, there was no opportunity to increase the level of one's skills. The working day began from 7 or 8 in the morning, lasted until 4 pm. Necessarily provided for a lunch break.
How is the work in LTP. What is going on there? Its expediency and effectiveness has often been criticized. According to some reports, by the end of the 20th century, more than a million people underwent treatment in LTPs, many of whom continued to drink alcohol after returning home. Soon the question arose of the competence of this institution. It was considered in the 70-80s of the last century. After the collapse of the USSR in Russia, it was decided to get rid of remnants of the Soviet past, including LTP. In 1994, medical dispensaries officially ceased to exist.
