It is already bad enough that politicians are stereotyped as corrupt. The last thing we need is the belief that drug abuse is rampant amongst politicians

The Italian data protection commissioner has blocked the broadcast of Mediaset programme Le Iene for surreptitiously collecting body fluid samples from unsuspecting MPs and testing them for drugs. The commissioner’s verdict attracted great public indignation, while journalists and other MPs were divided over whether the entrapment was fair or not, and whether legislators should be tested for drugs or not. In one notable outburst, fascist MP Alessandra Mussolini told RAI journalist Bruno Vespa it was inadmissible for MPs to enjoy immunity from investigative journalists, even if they conducted their work through entrapment.
In his piece, Nationalist whip Mario Galea defends MPs from what he describes as “unethical and illegal” means of determining whether they take drugs or not.

My understanding is that this swipe was obtained while make-up was being applied to the Italian Members of Parliament and without their consent. If this is the case this was illegal. It is unethical and illegal to obtain a swipe or a body sample without the individual consent. This practice cannot be justified not even if the subject is a Member of Parliament. It is after all a breech of one of the basic human rights.
In your question you have specifically indicated ‘psychotropic drugs’. Not all psychotropic drugs are illegal. The fact that an individual will test positive for psychotropic drugs could well mean that this person is on some treatment which was prescribed to him by a medical practitioner and dispensed legally by a pharmacist. So this is another important aspect which needs to be established. What kind of drugs were these Members of Parliament tested for and could it be that some of them were on some kind of treatment?
Having said this if the Italian MPs were abusing of illicit drugs this is very disturbing news. You cannot have legislators who are themselves breaking the law and abusing drugs. Apart from the impact that this might have on their decisions and deliberations I am also worried about the implications of such an abuse. Given that quite a number of Italian MPs tested positive for drugs and presuming that these were all illicit drugs an important question arises. Who is supplying these drugs to the Parliamentarians? Could this be some kind of “omertà mutual agreement”; “you supply me with drugs and I will protect you”. I am of course making this argument on the assumption that these were illicit drugs.
Unfortunately such an incident will continue to generate further mistrust and scepticism in politics and politicians. As politicians we need to be continuously vigilant and we must understand that our decisions, actions and our behaviour is being continuously monitored and accessed. We have both an individual and collective responsibility not to continue to tarnish the perception of our political institutions which is already in a very sorrow state.
It is already bad enough that politicians are stereotyped as corrupt. The last thing we need is the belief that drug abuse is rampant amongst politicians.

Mario Galea is a Nationalist MP and Parliamentary WHIP