Ah yes, that’s also a thing here in the Netherlands. If you’ve lived in the UK for 6 months or longer between Jan 1980 and Dec 1996 you cannot donate.

You cannot throw that as a blanket statement. Rules vary by country and medication. Judging by their profile the person you are responding to lives in Denmark, which actually seems to have fairly strict rules in this regard. Some of the ADHD medications I’ve been on in the past would have actually have disqualified me as a full blood donor there, had I still used them. Although the rules for plasma donation are less strict, so that might still be an option.

Unfortunately I was rejected as a donor, the nurse had too much trouble hitting a vein (mine are difficult to spot and tend to roll when sticking a needle in them) for drawing blood for the pre-donation bloodwork. So that meant an automatic rejection as they prefer not turning the donors into living pincushions. ☹️

And the meme in The Netherlands is that you do it for the “pink cookie”, which is a small cake-like cookie with pink icing on top. We don’t get any financial benefits

Ah yes, the infamous and delicious ‘roze koek’. 😄

To put the latter part a bit more strongly: it is legally not allowed to pay for blood donations in the Netherlands.

I once called a friend at home, back before mobile phones were common, only to have some older man answer. Shit, did I call the wrong number? My mind started racing: his mom is divorced and doesn’t have a boyfriend from what my friend told. It’s unlikely my friend’s voice dropped 3 octaves overnight… Fuck, did somebody murder them and picked up the phone? Am I ne… Oh wait, his mom is a living chimney, ah… ‘Hi *friend’s mom*’.