Re:Russians, help me understand (Score 2)

Filling in some blanks, though perhaps not the ones you had in mind. This did not make the news in Russia, so I do not think anyone is trying to win any brownie points by doing it. The government passes a c**pload of laws monthly and a huge amount of them are useless, illogical and/or just for show. In this case please note that the ban also extends to alcoholism, practically all the types of depression including seasonal affective disorder, practically all the types of anxiety including general and social, those suffering psychological effects of drugs, and heck, why not, pathological gamblers. That's not exhaustive... Further, when you read about a law like this you are thinking damn, these poor people won't get to drive! Truth is, this means nothing. To get a drivers licence you need to present a medical certificate but no one actually goes through any actual tests to get one. You pay and either get it without seeing a doctor, or if you go to an organisation that tries to be in more of a grey area you go from doctor's office to doctor's office, spending 1-2 minutes in each and they sign off after asking 1-2 questions and not actually looking at anything. When I did this, in fact, I walked into yet another doctor's office and he asked me something which I did not make out, so I asked him "what?". He said "I said, how is your hearing?". Heh. I said good, and he signed and off I went.