US EditionGreece's Varoufakis Charged After Admitting Drug Use 36 Years Ago
Varoufakis faces charges after describing his 1989 ecstasy use on a podcast; his party claims the trial is politically motivated amid public criticism from officials.
- On Feb 26, 2026 in Athens, Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister and Mera25 secretary, was charged with promoting drug use and is scheduled to stand trial in December, his party said.
- On a youth-organized podcast in early January, Varoufakis said he tried ecstasy nearly four decades ago in Australia and later confirmed this in a social media post.
- He described the experience, saying he danced for 16 hours, then suffered a week-long migraine and never used ecstasy again while warning that addiction means `the end of liberty`.
- MeRA25 said the prosecution shows `yet another episode` of the governing New Democracy party manipulating the Greek justice system and infringing freedoms.
- Varoufakis served briefly as finance minister in 2015 and resigned under pressure after comparing creditors to terrorists, a clash that sharpens the political stakes of the prosecution.
24 Articles
24 Articles
Greece’s Varoufakis Indicted Over Ecstasy Use 36 Years Ago
Greece’s former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has been indicted after admitting on a podcast that he took an ecstasy pill at a rave in Australia in his twenties. The prominent Marxist figurehead, who founded Greece’s leftist European Realistic Disobedience Front party, said on the podcast 3026: Human Algorithm that he only took the drug once. The 64-year-old said ecstasy was “a terrific experience” but caused him week-long migraines, adding:…
The left and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varofakis was charged and will be tried because he would promote drug use in a podcast, announced Wednesday, his small party, MeRA25, according to Kathimerini.
Yanis Varoufakis Set for Trial Over "Drug Promotion" Charges
The former minister said that while the experience had initially been pleasant, it resulted in a week-long migraine that deterred him from using drugs again. Credit: AMNA MeRA25 has announced that its Secretary, Yanis Varoufakis, is being referred to trial on charges related to the promotion and advertisement of drugs. The party has lashed out at the decision, describing it as “yet another episode in the creeping fascization of the Judiciary” an…
Yanis Varofakis, former Minister of Finance of Greece, is far from being the first politician to admit the use of illicit drugs for decades. But the admission made him a rare distinction, according to which he announced his political party on this Thursday: he is being processed. Varofakis, a left-wing economist, author and critic of the conservative government of Greece, was accused of "promoting and announcing drugs", according to his party kn…
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