(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 25 - Some 960,000 young people aged
15-to-19 have tried narcotics at least once in their life,
almost 40% of the students in this age range, and over 680,000
have taken drugs over the last year, Cabinet Secretary Alfredo
Mantovano told a conference for the presentation of the annual
report to parliament on drug addiction.
Mantovano said the data referred to 2023.
"We have a lowering of the age of the youth population's first
approach to drugs," he said.
He added that the shocking recent case of a 16-year-old who was
brutally murdered by two teenagers in Pescara due to a
disagreement over petty drug pushing was the sort of crime that
is "systematically repeated".
He referred to "years, if not decades, of road accidents with an
unexplainable cause and murders that have been brought about by
the total absence of inhibiting brakes and have only one common
thread - drug use.
""Cases, such as the murder in Pescara or the road accidents,
have three converging elements: the pandemic-like spread of
drugs, the lowering of the age of the first approach and
subsequent habitual use, and the increase in the active
ingredient.
"It all depends on an underlying cause: the widespread lack of
awareness of how bad any kind of drug is for you". (ANSA).
Some 960,000 15-19 yr-olds have taken drugs - Mantovano
Over 680,000 took drugs in the last year says Cabinet Secretary