Members of the centrist UDC opposition party lined up on Wednesday to take volunteer drug tests in a symbolic gesture after parliament scotched a UDC proposal that all MPs be tested and a UDC MP was involved in a drug-sex scandal.
The tests were carried out in a mobile lab set up in front of the House.
Among the first to take the test was UDC party leader Pier Ferdinando Casini, who had presented the bill to have all MPs tested for drugs, and former minister Rocco Buttiglione.
"I can assure you I feel in no way embarassed. I do not believe that the action of one man can reflect those of his party," Buttiglione told the press.
He was refering to MP Cosimo Mele who at the weekend admitted that he was the politician involved with two prostitutes in a Rome Hotel, one of whom had to be taken to hospital for apparently consuming too much cocaine and alcohol.
Mele later resigned from the UDC.
Several MPs from other parties also took the test including Gabriella Carlucci of Forza Italia, the biggest opposition party led by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi.
"I think this is a very good initiative. We need to set a positive example, considering the fact that we are members of parliament," Carlucci said.
"I, personally, not only do not take any drugs, but also do not drink or smoke. I am a vegetarian and I do a lot of sports," she added.
Drug use by MPs came into the national spotlight last year after a cult TV show caused uproar by exposing allegedly widespread drug use in parliament itself.
The show Le Iene secretly tested 50 MPs last October for drugs, revealing that one in three had apparently taken them in the preceding 36 hours.
Twelve tested positive for cannabis and four for cocaine, Le Iene said.
The prank never aired because of protests by MPs who claimed their privacy had been violated.
Le Iene, broadcast Berlusconi's private TV network Mediaset, pulled off the stunt by pretending to interview the parliamentarians about next year's budget.
As one of its reporters engaged willing MPs in conversation, a fake make-up artist secretly carried out drug-wipe tests on their foreheads.
The sweat collected on the wipe was then tested for drugs in a method which Le Iene said was 100% foolproof.
Le Iene protested that the show would not have violated the privacy of the MPs because their faces and voices would have been masked during broadcasting.
