Rome
Italian reporters have caught 16 members of Parliament using drugs in a controversial sting operation. TV reporters pretended to interview 50 lawmakers as they were leaving a parliamentary session, but the interviews were merely a pretext to allow a makeup girl to swab the politicians’ faces for drug residue. Analysis of the sweat samples showed that 12 of the lawmakers tested positive for marijuana and four for cocaine. A regulatory agency barred the TV show from broadcasting the footage, citing privacy rules, but the story was already out in the newspapers. Daniele Capezzone, leader of the Radical Party and not one of the lawmakers tested, said drug use was rampant in the legislature. “If a police dog sniffing for drugs were taken into certain political offices,” he said, “first its nose would go crazy and then it would give up altogether.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Is Trump sidelining Congress' war powers?Today's Big Question The Iran attack renews a long-running debate
-
6 productivity-ready homes with great officesFeature Featuring an office with a gas fireplace in Oregon and a shared workspace with wraparound windows in Massachusetts
-
How quarterly estimated tax payments work and when they are dueThe Explainer Freelancers, small business owners and those with a side hustle may need to make more frequent tax payments
