Ask HN: Who has moved from the U.S. to Europe?

  That said, the reality feels very different.  Because the rule of law is weaker here (but not so weak that it's a might-makes-right anarchy), I feel a lot more free.  You might or might not like that, depending on how much of a rule-follower and law-and-order type you are.  I am fiercely independent and deeply resent stupid rules, so for me it's great.  To give one example which might scandalize some of you, in the depths of the COVID lockdowns when everything was mandated shutdown by law and masks were required everywhere, I was drinking cocktails with my girlfriend in a packed cocktail bar where you couldn't find a mask for love or money.  Make no mistake this was illegal, and if police found out they could shut down the bar, fine the patrons and seriously fine the owner, but this doesn't happen because the owner of the bar is connected and bribes have been paid and the Ukrainian people are ungovernable in the best of times anyway.

  For better or worse, you can buy almost any drugs other than narcotics without a prescription.  The process is, a doctor tells you "you should take $DRUG, here I'll write it down for you", you go to a pharmacy, and ask if they have $DRUG.  If they do, you give them money and they give you $DRUG.  It's great.  I can stock up on the meds I take for blood pressure, for example, without asking a doctor's permission.  Obviously that's risky, but they never developed the equivalent of our Sullivan Act giving doctors a monopoly on pharmaceuticals.  Another fun anecdote, my cardiologist prescribed (again, "prescribed" just means "told me to go buy") phenobarbital, which you can just buy in the pharmacy over the counter.