CREMONA – “We are witnessing a net increase in access to the Addiction Service”. Roberto Poli, director of the Addiction Service Unit of the Cremona ASST (including the nuclei of Cremona and Casalmaggiore) comments on the data collected during 2021, which confirm the trend reported by the World Health Organization, characterized by a increase in the number of people with mental health problems (depression and anxiety in the first place) and addictions.
In the last five years (2017-2021) there has been a increase in the number of people taken care of by the SerD (+ 7%). In 2021, a total of 2254 people with problems of addiction to heroin, cocaine, other illegal substances were followed. “The growth trend is further confirmed by the data of the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period of 2021, with the increase of cases followed equal to 10%”, adds Poli.
Roberto Poli, director of the Addiction Service Unit of the Cremona Asst
“This is an expected figure, as an effect of the pandemic period”, continues Poli, “The increase in requests for taking charge seen last year was partly held back by the limitations related to the health emergency: as already evident from data for the first quarter, in 2022 we expect further significant growth ».
“In relation to gender differences – continues Poli – there is a slight but constant increase in the female population following the SerD, which on the total number of patients taken in care goes from 14% in 2018 to 16% in 2021”. As for citizenship, from 2017 to 2021 the number of people of foreign origin in care of the SerD increased by 6%. Italians are 63%, non-EU citizens are 24% and non-Italian citizens from the European Union are 5%.
CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL.
Poli underlines how the habits of consumption of illegal substances have changed. “They are increasingly used in mixes, with very heavy effects on the level of deviant behavior”. Specifically, alcohol consumption is increasingly close to Northern European styles: no longer the classic glass of wine with an “Italian” meal, but a great binge drinking based on used beers, spirits and alcohol pops between meals “.
Between 2020 and 2021, alcohol consumption and related disorders increased by 24 percentor. In the first quarter of 2022 the trend is reconfirmed with a further increase in the access of people with alcohol-related problems equal to 15%. If we consider the female population alone, the percentage increase is equal to 26% compared to the first quarter of 2021.
The data relating to the Cremona and Casalasco area confirm what emerged from the National Alcohol Conference held in Rome in March. «Even on a local scale – confirms Poli – we have found an increase in the excessive consumption of alcohol in search of a“ high ”. Nationally, there are over 4 million binge drinkers. In addition, road accidents caused by driving under the influence of alcohol or under the influence of drugs are increasing. These include the very young, among whom the habit of consuming alcohol increases, especially between meals.
TAKING CHARGE.
The number of accesses and taken in charge for the consumption of illegal substances in 2021 remains stable. “This figure is conditioned by the reduction in mailings by the Prefecture during the period of the pandemic, when the police were concentrated on other fronts” . The number of patients being treated with drug replacement therapies (such as methadone) also remains constant: 434 people were treated last year.
On the other hand, the number of patients placed in rehabilitation communities for drug addicts is decreasing: «In 2021 we registered 63 new patients, with a decrease of 22% compared to five years ago», explains the director SerD. “This data is to be read in relation to the changes in the type of addictions, which require different interventions than traditional community ones”.
The number of people treated for gambling and nicotine remains almost unchanged, as well as interventions related to sexually transmitted infections (HIV and hepatitis C)
LEGAL CASES, MINORS AND PRISONERS.
For the past five years legal cases almost doubled (+ 94%), or people sent by the ordinary court or minors for toxicological tests, any treatments and monitoring. During 2021, 91 people were taken into care; only in the first quarter of 2022 the reports by the courts are 40% more. The number of drug addicts followed inside the prison has also grown in the five-year period: in 2021 370 inmates were taken into care, 66 more than in 2017.
