Hungarian Prime Minister Wants to Drug Test Journalists

In a nauseating attempt to skin alive the liberal attitudes of individuals put in a position of public trust, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán came forward earlier last week, demanding that all journalists and politicians be forced to submit to mandatory drug testing. The prime minister’s latest harebrained scheme to silence progressive opinions comes just weeks after proposing a failed initiative to implement a similar measure against Hungary’s youth.

While a majority of the world is working towards ending the war on drugs, Orbán has recently emerged with fully intact ideologies on how to keep the cartels from infiltrating the state and in turn, keep the Hungarian population from turning into a nation of wild-eyed junkies. During a recent radio interview, Orbán unleashed his latest plan of attack against a dope-fueled society by waging war on the potentially inebriated minds responsible for persuading public opinion.

“Politicians, journalists and those filling positions of public trust have to be included [in the drug tests] because it is clear that those who consume drugs cannot be relied on in the fight against drugs,” he said. “We have to clarify where everyone stands. We have to announce this fight, and the drug mafia has to be squeezed out of Hungary with the most draconian punishments and the most precise procedures by the authorities.”

Of course, it did not take long before civil rights activists started jumping up and down like caged animals against the possibility that journalists may soon have to piss clean in order to maintain their professional standing. Calling it “reminiscent of dark days,” Karoly Toth, the leader of the Association of Hungarian Journalists, said that while it was too early to get a firm grip on the nature of the proposal, it undoubtedly serves to endanger the integrity of news reporting. “If it becomes law, then I would say it creates a very sad situation in Hungarian life by bringing back the concept of collective guilt, an evil memory,” said Toth.

Zsuzsanna Gyongyosi, president of the Association of Independent Journalists, told the Associated Press that the prime minister is hell-bent on painting a portrait of the news media as some sort of “depraved” community of vile rejects by attempting to stigmatize journalists as dope fiends and ultimately sabotage their credibility. Yet Gyongyosi supports a proposed measure introduced by opposing forces to make it mandatory for all politicians to submit to a breathalyzer before entering the gates of parliament.

Prime Minister Orbán has been unleashing the dogs of old communism on Hungary ever since he took the reins in 2010, with heat-seeking efforts to control the media and silence independent civil organizations. In July, he announced his vision for Hungary was to create “a non-liberal state” in the image of Russia, China and Turkey.

His latest plot to cripple the drug mafia by executing mandatory drug tests on the media has the opposition skeptical of his intentions. “How serious can this drug mafia be if Orbán didn’t talk about it for four years?” said one anti-Orbánian. “Either he was blind during his previous term or this is just a cheap populist ploy.”

Experts argue the real scourge on Hungary is alcohol, not drugs, with an estimated 800,000 alcoholics versus 20,000 drug addicts, according to toxicologist Gábor Zacher with the Military Hospital in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.