ABANDONED: Designer Drugs on the Margins of Hungarian Society

The use of the new psychoactive substances (NPS) became widespread in Hungary in the 2010s. Synthetic cannabinoids are the second most tried substance among young people after real cannabis. Still, regular use of these drugs is more prevalent among people of lower social status, who live in rural areas. According to Dr. Levente Móró, a neuroscientist, the problem with synthetic cannabinoids is not the molecule itself, but rather the dose and frequency of use. These drugs are often mixed so strongly that the typical effect will be overdose; we see this on the streets and in public squares.

The biggest problem with the use of "herbal" and "crystal" is seen in segregated areas in Hungary, where mostly Roma people live. Even in wealthier settlements, such as Halmajugra, the use of "crystal", or synthetic cathinone, is already a serious problem, mainly due to the increase in petty theft. According to Dr. Rozália Lakatos, the mayor of the settlement, even though not all new psychoactive substance users are Roma, this is more noticeable among poorer people, so the stigma surrounding drug use impacts Roma people. Meanwhile, affected families feel that they cannot count on any external help and that they do not know whom to turn to.

Over the past 14 years, services helping drug users have been cut down and underfunded by the Hungarian state, drug prevention specialists have been banned from schools, and low-threshold services have ceased or are vegetating. According to sociologist Dr. Róbert Csák, coverage of the care system has become so poor that it is simply impossible to know what is happening to these people. There is hardly any contact with people in rural areas who have drug problems. If they do get into treatment, Dr. János Szemelyácz says, services are currently not differentiated enough to meet the new types of needs.

Two employees of the Laurus association, Helga Horváth and Zalán Honti, are doing heroic work in the segregated district of the Miskolc Iron Factory. They maintain a community space and provide therapeutic help to people living with drug problems. Additionally, they support local children, which they consider one of their most important tasks. They want young people to know that they have someone to turn to when they have problems, and by doing so, they aim to reduce the re-emergence of segregation. Béla Turró, their peer worker, was able to start a new life with the help of Laurus and stop injecting “crystal”. According to Helga's family, the greatest opportunity to break out of the segregation of the ironworks was the emergence of job opportunities provided by factories and the European Union.

According to Judit Szécsi, a social worker and assistant professor at ELTE, without reforming the educational, health care and child protection systems and investing in infrastructural developments, such as transport solutions and repairing roads, they will not be able to deal with problematic new psychoactive drug use in segregated areas.

As long as there is a demand for drugs, there will be dealers. In the hope of making quick money, Benjámin Bora from Komló became a dealer from being a Cash-in-Transit security guard. He quickly climbed to the top, earning the price of his car in one evening. However, in order to cope with the constant strain of this work, he got hooked on his own drugs. He got so deep that he even became homeless for a while. Yet, he believes that society is holding up a twisted mirror to us and that the media does not present a realistic picture of drug users. According to him, users of synthetic cathinones do not typically end up in the state synthetic cannabinoid users are often portrayed in the media – lying in an underpass, hunched over, and fainting. The drug can give and take, but he thinks that as an adult, one can decide what they want, and he holds himself responsible for his own fate. When he had enough, he stopped using intravenous drugs on his own and went back to work; still, he lost his family. According to Benjámin, this area should not necessarily be seen as a problem, as some synthetic drugs could be regulated. If you can do it with cannabis, you can do it with these as well.

The primary response of the Hungarian state is criminalisation. The use of drugs is a criminal offence, and the use of NPS is a misdemeanour. However, acknowledging the senseless and excessive nature of imprisonment, the state introduced the institution of ‘diversion treatment’, which one can choose instead of punishment. But this can only be chosen once in two years. However, in the case of designer drugs, since possession of these is "only" a misdemeanour, this is not allowed even once.