INTERNATIONAL DRUG ENFORCEMENT CENTRE 

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A total of 128 new drugs found in Europe in 2021

 

A total of 128 new drugs were detected last year, of which 38 were reported in Europe and 90 in Italy alone.

 

The data were released on the UN International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on 26 June. The new substances belong mainly to the class of cathinones, synthetic opioids and cannabinoids, in addition to the ‘classic’ ones: THC, CBD, heroin, morphine, cocaine, amphetamine, MDMA, LSD. The report published by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità notes that there has also been a significant increase in seizures of Ketamine, a dissociative anaesthetic. In the first six months post lockdown, there was a 200% increase in NPS reports, compared to the previous period.

Two substances were detected for the first time in Europe belonging to the class of synthetic opioid analogues of fentanyl and 1 new substance belonging to the class of synthetic cannabinoids.

“The speed of response of SNAP – it is a crucial factor in developing a procedure to react immediately to the appearance and spread of new substances.

Also of great support is information from the Addiction Services, emergency facilities, mobile units, therapeutic communities and, more generally, private social organisations, which are able to provide objective observation (in the field) of users of psychoactive or narcotic substances.

“This work is indispensable for health protection because identifying new psychoactive substances that are not on the list of narcotic substances means taking safety measures to prevent intoxications and deaths caused directly by them or by products containing them”. 

 

How have drugs changed over the years? What are the main differences between today's drugs and the drugs of recent years?

Like any consumer product, even “drugs” have changed and continue to change. Specifically, the change is mainly determined by three factors: a) Competition within drug trafficking, which despite the multiplication of illegal economies and opportunities for enrichment remains one of the main sources of profit for the mafias, the basis of their criminal empires . Competition that leads to the introduction on the market of new types of substances capable of “conquering” new groups of consumers. b) Social changes, particularly in the youth field, which determine new orientations, propensities, lifestyles and consumption styles, of which the use of drugs becomes an integral part. Crucial, in this sense, was the transition in the 90s from “extranection” drugs – of which the use of intravenous heroin was the emblem – to “performance” drugs, socializing and performing, such as ecstasy, amphetamines, the cocaine. Crucial because it helped to demolish the romantic figure of the negative hero in the youthful imagination who with drug addiction expressed a protest against the “system”, transformed by the culture of performance into a “loser” and charmless figure. c).

The economic crisis, which has profoundly impoverished Italy and made the “retail outlet” an expedient to make some money. As for the current scenario, it is very articulated: the vast majority of consumers prefer a triad of substances: two legal, alcohol and tobacco, and one illegal, cannabis. The “loyalty” to cannabis (those who consume it do not associate it with the intake of other illegal substances) is estimated at around 80 percent. As for the minority, albeit significant, who venture into the use/abuse of illegal drugs (on the one hand cocaine and crack, on the other synthetic opioids – mainly obtained via the Internet – together with a return to smoked heroin) they are people who often have behind prolonged “experiments”. Ketamine, ephedrone, psychopharmaceuticals represent variants capable of determining “personalized” effects from time to time, so that it can be said that, unlike in the past, today the “market” offers the consumer the possibility of packaging his own product, based on needs and desired effects.

What are the most worrying emergencies related to drug use today?

Overdose remains the main emergency: not only the traditional ones caused by heroin and alcohol – which have increased statistically in recent years after a progressive decrease – but those associated with heart attacks and strokes due to abuse of cocaine and crack or “heat strokes”. ” (lethal hyperthermia) from excess of amphetamines and methamphetamines. Furthermore, delusional states produced by the abuse of synthetic drugs are manifested, and if on the one hand the spread of diseases through the use of infected syringes has decreased, on the other the risk of contagion by sexual route due to irresponsible behavior remains high.

What kind of drug use is there among young people? Why and at what age do they approach drugs? Are there any differences compared to the past?

Synthetic psychoactive substances, grouped under the generic term of “new drugs” and found on the “encrypted” markets of the Internet are spreading more and more among the new generations. We are talking about methamphetamines, sometimes not yet classified as illegal, lab-produced opioids, ephedrone… Many kids today tend to experiment and try everything, often without knowing anything about the substance they are taking. Recklessness, impulsivity, a sense of omnipotence and invulnerability typical of adolescence are the factors that are generally associated with abuse. The reasons that lead to the initiation of consumption are often trivial: compliance with the group, a conformist reflection within a non-conformist attitude, fear of being outdone and therefore excluded. Everything leads back to the pressure of the group of “peers” and the desire to belong to an identity translated into the emulation of transgressive behavior. However, it is necessary to distinguish the phenomenon of consumption from that of addiction. 


Most young consumers learn to know their limits and to trace the intake of substances to a principle of self-regulation, finding a measure in intensity and frequency. When the need to belong is reduced – with the related “rites of passage” – more often than not, consumption decreases or disappears, supplanted by interests of other kinds and by the search for new and more mature relationships. If the typical age of initiation remains the two years of high school (with an “earlier” today, in some contexts, to the middle school years), the cessation of the habit occurs on average between 22-24 years, except for those ventures into paths rischiosis leading to addiction. The first consumption is reached for trivial reasons, conveyed, as mentioned, by the need for socialization, belonging and identity. Persistence in consumption, abuse and possible dependence, on the other hand, concern children affected by forms of personal or relational hardship, often raised in family and social environments crossed by deprivations that leave their mark.

Why do recovery communities feel abandoned?

It has been 8 years since a National Conference on Drugs has been convened (by law it should be every three years). The National Anti-Drug Department has long been an empty box, deprived of personnel, scientific advice and funding. In my opinion, the disinterest of addiction policy stems from two factors. On the one hand, the freezing of the drug issue, as it is too “edgy” for executives of national unity (even in the current government “contract” it is not taken into consideration); on the other, the cuts in healthcare spending and the consequent heavy penalization of the services sector: the recovery centers have seen their workforce decrease (retirements have only been replaced to a minimal extent) and some communities have had to close because they have drastically reduced the regional budgets at their disposal. Not only that: the decrease in overdoses, from the height of the 90s until the beginning of the second decade of the 2000s and the AIDS epidemic kept more under control thanks to antiretroviral therapies, have led to the idea that those problems were largely solved . It was an illusion, also the result of an observation criterion that privileged addictions over consumption, overestimating the decrease of the former (and at the same time neglecting the growth of behavioral addictions: gambling, internet, etc.) and underestimating the increase in seconds and the risks that are always associated with simple consumption.

 

How has the world of assistance to drug addicts changed?

 

Fewer staff, fewer resources, aging operators, lack of turnover with younger ones. This prevents recovery centers from innovating and maintaining adequate performance levels. In particular, an excessive “sanitaryisation” is taking place in which medical-nursing personnel are predominant compared to psycho-educational and social personnel. It is known that drug addiction is a “disease” with all particular characteristics. Social reintegration, psycho-educational support during the treatment phase are tools as important as the drug and the treatment of “drug-related” diseases. If the pillar of the psycho-social approach fails, the effectiveness of health interventions also remains halved. Adherence to treatment is the first to be affected. As for recovery communities, today they are faced with complicated issues. Persons addicted to heroin have aged, no longer have family relationships, neither with the family of origin nor with any acquired ones; problems of a physical (disability) and psychic (double diagnosis) nature often overlap with the limits of invalidity, which make any attempt to reintegrate work effectively impossible except in protected situations (type B cooperatives). For people who are often homeless or without a fixed abode, the intervention thus ends up taking on markedly welfare connotations.

Why do recovery communities feel abandoned?

It has been 8 years since a National Conference on Drugs has been convened (by law it should be every three years). The National Anti-Drug Department has long been an empty box, deprived of personnel, scientific advice and funding. In my opinion, the disinterest of addiction policy stems from two factors. On the one hand, the freezing of the drug issue, as it is too “edgy” for executives of national unity (even in the current government “contract” it is not taken into consideration); on the other, the cuts in healthcare spending and the consequent heavy penalization of the services sector: the recovery centers have seen their workforce decrease (retirements have only been replaced to a minimal extent) and some communities have had to close because they have drastically reduced the regional budgets at their disposal. Not only that: the decrease in overdoses, from the height of the 90s until the beginning of the second decade of the 2000s and the AIDS epidemic kept more under control thanks to antiretroviral therapies, have led to the idea that those problems were largely solved . It was an illusion, also the result of an observation criterion that privileged addictions over consumption, overestimating the decrease of the former (and at the same time neglecting the growth of behavioral addictions: gambling, internet, etc.) and underestimating the increase in seconds and the risks that are always associated with simple consumption..

How has the world of assistance to drug addicts changed?

Fewer staff, fewer resources, aging operators, lack of turnover with younger ones. This prevents recovery centers from innovating and maintaining adequate performance levels. In particular, an excessive “sanitaryisation” is taking place in which medical-nursing personnel are predominant compared to psycho-educational and social personnel. It is known that drug addiction is a “disease” with all particular characteristics. Social reintegration, psycho-educational support during the treatment phase are tools as important as the drug and the treatment of “drug-related” diseases. If the pillar of the psycho-social approach fails, the effectiveness of health interventions also remains halved. Adherence to treatment is the first to be affected. As for recovery communities, today they are faced with complicated issues. Persons addicted to heroin have aged, no longer have family relationships, neither with the family of origin nor with any acquired ones; problems of a physical (disability) and psychic (double diagnosis) nature often overlap with the limits of invalidity, which make any attempt to reintegrate work effectively impossible except in protected situations (type B cooperatives). For people who are often homeless or without a fixed abode, the intervention thus ends up taking on markedly welfare connotations.

 

INTERNATIONAL DRUG ENFORCEMENT CENTRE – I.D.E.C.

AGENTIA CENTRUL INTERNATIONAL ANTIDROG

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