Hungary’s war on drugs has entered a new and troubling phase. In recent months, the government has deployed police powers not only in nightclubs, but also against some opposition politicians and some of the country’s most popular musicians—accusing them of promoting a “drug lifestyle.”

A pre-dawn house search targeting 8th-district opposition candidate Alexander Horváth reveals how Hungary’s “war on drugs” has become a political weapon — deployed to intimidate dissent and control narratives ahead of elections.

In this global sign-on letter, 116 civil society organisations from 47 countries raise the alarm over the ‘war on drugs’ launched by the Hungarian government in March 2025, which has resulted in aggressive police interventions targeting people who use drugs, and a concerning crackdown on harm reduction service providers and civil society organisations promoting human rights-centred drug policies.

At the 28th Harm Reduction International Conference, we had the chance to speak with Ethan Nadelmann, founder of the Drug Policy Alliance in the United States, about the present and future of drug policy during Donald Trump’s second term as president. Watch the video here!

The government majority in the Hungarian Parliament has passed an amendment to the Criminal Code introducing stricter penalties for drug offences. Civil society organisations that have criticised these legal changes and advocate for harm reduction are now facing threats and defunding.

Under the pretext of fighting a war on drugs to “protect the children,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is preparing a major crackdown on civil society and free speech. This could lead to harm reduction and drug policy reform being repressed—much like in Russia—including Drugreporter itself.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has declared a war on drug traffickers, announcing that Hungary will amend its constitution to criminalise drug use. However, civil society warns that this approach is bound to fail and a more integrated, health-focused approach is needed instead.

At its bi-annual gathering the European harm reduction movement addressed the multiple challenges of our time: rising populism, shrinking space for civil society, changing drug markets and changing needs of people who use drugs. Watch our film we produced at the conference!

In this interview, filmed at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, we discussed current developments of cannabis policy reform in Europe with Tom Blickman from the Transnational Institute.

The recent backlash against the decriminalisation of drug use is a worrying sign of decision-makers’ short-sightedness. We, as a society, need to reconnect with marginalised people and not re-criminalise them.