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The marijuana debate has highlighted some of the problems of the drug situation in Hungary. Until very recently, drug-related issues were not part of the curriculum at the country's medical schools, and even at postgraduate level the topic is not properly integrated. The few existing specialist centres have to rely on the expertise of a handful of individuals and are facing organizational problems.
Most of the opinions voiced on television, radio and in the press seem to be based on subjective impressions and are liable to create an inaccurate picture. Apocalyptic visions of the future based on arbitrary interpretations of facts are frequently conjured up. Some politicians have even tried to demonstrate their serious attitude by demanding stricter laws and more forceful police action against drug users, despite the fact that Hungary's existing drug legislation is among the toughest in Europe.
Hungary has become a transit country for the international drugs trade, especially since the war in Bosnia, which led to a spectacular increase in the quantity of drugs seized on the border. The most likely explanation for the difficulties the police have in catching those proverbial villains who lurk around schools to snare youngsters in their hypodermic web is that they simply don't exist. Despite the increase in drugs traffic there is no evidence of a parallel increase in drug consumption inside the country itself. In their frustration the police have resorted to-and indeed excel in-the persecution of young pot-smokers.
The current anti-drug propaganda is so one-sided that youngsters are led to believe that all illegal drugs are evil, but legal ones, and the real evils as social problems-alcohol, cigarettes-are quite OK. Paradoxically, this may even encourage them to consume the latter in excessive quantities.
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