Polish pope's hometown elects drug-loving mayor

InterAksyon.com – AFP, December 2014

WARSAW, Poland - A law professor who is open about his drug use has been elected mayor of a Polish city best known for being the birthplace of Saint Pope John Paul II.

Mateusz Klinowski, an independent, won a runoff election over the weekend with 57 percent of the vote in the southern city of Wadowice.

"I said that I use drugs and I stand by that," he told AFP on Wednesday, without specifying his drug of choice.

"Enough with the widespread hypocrisy. At some point you have to admit that reputable people are sometimes also drug users."

The 36-year-old philosopher and activist campaigned against corruption and defeated Ewa Filipiak, who was the city's mayor for 20 years.

He described himself as "the radical voice of the John Paul II generation in a city that is stuck in time."

The Polish pontiff, who died in 2005 and became a saint this year, was born in the city in 1920. His house is now the main tourist attraction.

Klinowski has lobbied for years for the decriminalization of drugs in Poland, where possessing any kind of drug is a crime.

Voters in the heavily Catholic country also elected their first openly gay mayor over the weekend.