"Drugs have taught me that if you have a bad trip, it won't last a lifetime," says in his motivational lecture in front of students the successful entrepreneur Michal Truban, who is currently leading the non-parliamentary party Progressive Slovakia. A video of Truban's lecture, that took place six years ago, has been posted by the portal webnoviny.sk and in the past few days was criticized by the wider public as well as politicians. In his defence, Truban claims that it is only an extract deliberately taken out of context from a lecture in which he talked to students about his business experience that he began while at university. "I am fascinated by the effort someone has invested into looking at my old blogs and videos to find something that can be misused against me," he added. Moreover, he has meanwhile apologised for his past actions.
In the past, several Slovak politicians have been connected with the misuse of drugs. However, the publicist and commentator Michal Havran has posted on social networks that alcoholism is a much bigger problem in Slovak society than drugs, yet it remains under the radar.
Truban's drug affair may not disqualify him from politics as much as his lack of social empathy, thinks the sociologist and political analyst Soňa Szomolányi. In an interview for SITA news agency Szomolányi said that today's young generation will not consider Turban's statements a problem, and that it is a made-up issue.
"On the other hand Truban's vocabulary from the past, in which he condescendingly speaks of manual workers, is, in my view, les forgivable for politicians than admitting marijuana use," said Szomolányi, evaluating Truban's leadership ambitions. Since the coalition of the parties Progressive Slovakia and Together is currently the strongest opposition group, Michal Truban has been spoken of as a potential future prime minister. According to the political scientist, it is not only his vocabulary, but also his lack of political experience that can undermine Truban's future political aims.
