Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Gergely Guly\u00e1s, spokesperson for the Hungarian government, announced at a press conference on Thursday that the government plans to amend the constitution to include a constitutional ban on the use of illicit drugs. This amendment will be introduced alongside other changes, such as the constitutional declaration that humans can only be male or female, and that the protection of children\u2019s physical, spiritual, and moral development takes priority over everything except the protection of life. Hungary was the first country in the world to introduce a constitutional ban on rough sleeping (homelessness), and it will now become the first country to ban drug use in its constitution. As drug use is already criminalised in Hungary, this legal change is expected to have little practical impact. However, the government has also created a new 150-strong Office Against Drugs (KBEH) within the national police force to “fight against drug trafficking.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This announcement came just days after Prime Minister Orb\u00e1n declared a war on drugs in his annual “State of the Nation” speech, claiming that traffickers of synthetic drugs deserve no mercy. “Cheap, toxic concoctions, synthetic substances have flooded the country,” he said, referring to so-called new psychoactive substances, such as synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones. Although these “new” drugs have been present in the Hungarian drug market since the early 2010s, their use has increased in recent years, particularly among marginalised communities, such as those in segregated Roma settlements. According to Orb\u00e1n, the trafficking of these drugs “must be eliminated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Drugreporter and most other professional organisations, this latest war on drugs is merely another empty PR campaign aimed at securing cheap popularity among the government\u2019s voter base, which consists largely of less educated and less urbanised people. The announcement has also angered professionals working in the addiction field, who point out that while the government spends billions on alcohol promotion, it allocates no budget for drug prevention and addiction treatment. Just days after Orb\u00e1n\u2019s declaration, the government announced a plan to spend 1 billion HUF (2.5 million EUR) to support “village pubs” selling alcohol\u2014another move widely seen as an attempt to solidify support among the same voter base. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The current situation is the result of years of government inaction and mismanagement. Without addressing the root causes of drug problems\u2014such as poverty, homelessness, segregation, and lack of access to health and social care\u2014law enforcement measures are bound to fail. For several years, professionals and civil society organisations have been raising alarm over the worsening drug situation. In 2019, civil society organisations organised a conference on synthetic drug use<\/a>. In 2021, when more than 40 people died from overdosing on improperly dosed synthetic cannabinoids, an online conference<\/a> was organised to address the crisis. Drugreporter also produced a one-hour feature documentary, Abandoned: Designer Drugs on the Margins of Hungarian Society<\/a><\/em>, focusing on synthetic drug use. Despite multiple recommendations from civil society organisations urging a comprehensive, integrated response, these calls have been ignored by the government.