Getting drunk in a Soviet city could end with waking up somewhere run by the authorities rather than at home. Your money, documents and watch had been taken for safekeeping, a doctor had examined you, and you were told that you would have to pay for the night. This was the Soviet sobering-up station.

The first Soviet medical sobering-up station opened in Leningrad in 1931. At first, such facilities belonged to the healthcare system, but in 1940 they were transferred to the NKVD. Later they became part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while continuing to have a medical function. By the 1970s, sobering-up stations had become a familiar part of everyday life in Soviet cities.

They did not take everyone who had been drinking, though. Under the regulations used in the late Soviet period, the main concern was a person who was severely intoxicated in a public place and either could not move independently or was behaving in a way that disturbed public order. Someone who had simply had a few drinks at home was not automatically sent there.

There were even special vehicles for picking people up. Soviet regulations described vehicles marked "Special Medical Service," usually staffed by a police driver and two police officers. They were used to collect heavily intoxicated people from public places, although officers were not supposed to use them simply to remove someone from a private apartment or settle a family dispute.

Once the person arrived, the process became surprisingly formal. Their identity was established, they were registered, and their belongings were taken for safekeeping. Money, documents, watches and rings were recorded and were supposed to be returned when the person left. If someone could walk, they were taken into the station themselves; if they could not, they could be carried in on a stretcher.

A medical examination was also part of the procedure. Staff checked blood pressure and pulse, then went further, assessing heart, lungs, abdomen and neurological condition, sometimes noting mental state as well. Medical assistance could be provided when necessary. A sobering-up station, in other words, functioned as something between a police facility and a medical one.

Officially, the station combined two functions: removing severely intoxicated people from public places and providing them with medical assistance. Police officers and medical personnel worked there together.

There was also an important distinction between a drunk person and a criminal suspect. If someone was suspected of committing a crime, they were not supposed to be sent to a sobering-up station. They were handed over to the police station instead. The sobering-up system was designed for people who were heavily intoxicated but were not being treated as criminal suspects.

People were charged for their stay, and the bill could come as a surprise the next morning. The amount depended on the region and changed over time, but by the late Soviet period it could amount to several dozen rubles. If someone could not pay immediately, a bill could be issued for them.

Getting taken to a sobering-up station could also have consequences beyond the payment. Information about repeated visits could be used in what the authorities called preventive work at a person's place of residence or employment. Under the 1985 regulations, someone who ended up in a sobering-up station three or more times within a year could be referred for a medical examination at a narcological institution.

This was part of a much larger Soviet campaign against alcohol abuse. Sobering-up stations existed alongside narcological clinics, local police officers and various preventive commissions. The state's goal was not simply to remove an intoxicated person from the street. Repeated drinking could become a matter of official attention.

The system survived the collapse of the Soviet Union. In Russia, there were still hundreds of sobering-up stations at the beginning of the 2010s, and millions of people passed through them. But in 2011, specialized sobering-up stations within the police system were abolished, with their functions largely transferred to medical institutions.

The Soviet system had an obvious practical advantage. A person who was dangerously drunk would not simply be left lying on the street. They could be examined, their belongings could be secured and they could spend the night under supervision. It also had a very different side: the stay was involuntary, police control was mixed with medical care, and repeated visits could attract official attention.

For several decades, this was simply part of Soviet city life. A person could drink too much, be picked up by a special vehicle, have their belongings recorded, spend the night on a bed under medical supervision and receive a bill in the morning. For a modern foreigner, that last detail might be the part that lands strangest of all, an ordinary night out ending with a doctor's note and a receipt.