Mandatory school drug testing proposal rejected in Hungary

Máté Kocsis, the mayor of District 8 in Budapest, caused public outrage by proposing to introduce mandatory drug testing for all journalists, politicians, and schoolchildren between the ages of 8 and 18. "I am often astounded to read that numerous 'experts' talk about drug policies, when there are many of us who would instead like to hear about anti-drug policies," he wrote late Friday in his Facebook post. The ruling Fidesz party first welcomed the proposal to test teenagers, and announced that they would implement it. A few days later though, under pressure from the media and professionals, they changed their position, and are now only talking about voluntary drug testing for those children and their parents who request it.

There are several problems with mandatory school drug testing – staff at HCLU’s Drugreporter have given a number of interviews to the online, printed and broadcast media, to call public attention to these problems.

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