“Young people and Saturday night fever”. From the Order of Physicians of Naples the “dossier” on the excessive use of alcohol and drugs. The doctors: «We must learn to acquire the language of our children, help them not to succumb to the “fashion of getting high”» Alcohol and drug poisoning, as well as road accidents linked to substance abuse, give shape to a real war bulletin in Naples. The alarming numbers emerged during the meeting entitled “Young people and Saturday night fever”, desired and organized by the Communication Commission and the CUG of the OMCeO Naples. A «deadly high», as Giuseppe Galano, head of the 118 Operations Center of Naples and territorial activities, defined it bluntly: «The data tell us that the consumption of hallucinogens, amphetamines and synthetic drugs – he explained – is now spreading extremely easily among young people and even among adolescents. And it is a phenomenon that is constantly increasing, also because the costs of these drugs are low and they can be found extremely easily". To aggravate the dangerousness of these substances are the lethal mixes. They are often taken with alcohol, the so-called "binge drinking". The dossier presented to the Order of Physicians of Naples reveals another alarming aspect: the identikit of young people at risk is not that of "problematic" kids, but rather "normal adolescents" who unfortunately do not perceive the danger, they live all this in an unaware way, in the grip of a sense of emulation that eliminates the sense of risk.
Guys like Nico, the young Neapolitan (just 20 years old) who died last summer after a night spent in a disco in Positano, found lifeless in a valley of the tourist resort on the Amalfi coast. A young man "without any crazy ideas", with solid family relationships, who had never used drugs and without any alcohol addiction problems. A young man who, however, was a victim of the "getting high system", a taboo legitimized by a society that has sacrificed values and a sense of proportion on the altar of profit. At the Order of Physicians of Naples, it was Nico's father who brought the testimony of a pain that can never be overcome, but which must also serve to propose solutions and bring about change. A proactive and positive message, which must serve to save the very young from an insidious and sneaky enemy. "One of the most shocking experiences - said Nico's father - I had when I left the disco, when I still hoped to find my boyfriend alive. Dozens and dozens of very young people collapsed on the ground, hungover or under the influence of drugs. A terrifying scene experienced by everyone as if it were the most normal thing in the world and with only one goal: "sober up quickly to get behind the wheel and go home". "We must learn to acquire the language of our children, who must be helped not to succumb to fashions - recalled Clara Imperatore (Councillor of the Order and Coordinator of the Communication Commission and of the CUG) -. We must be able to induce them to think independently and to search within themselves for what can truly make them happy and free".
A goal to be achieved soon, because the data from Campania describe a situation that is now out of control. The alcoholic “debut” is increasingly precocious: more than half of the kids drank their first glass between the ages of 11 and 14 (52,8%). Over half of the young people (11-19 years) drink “sometimes” (51,6%), while 8,2% do it “often”. In particular, among 15-19 year olds the percentage of those who drink “sometimes” rises to 65% and only two in ten are teetotalers. A third of the interviewees played with friends to see who drinks the most (33,1%) and an identical percentage revealed they saw a friend or acquaintance filming or being filmed on video while drinking. Equally worrying are the data emerging from the 118 emergency center in Naples. In 2018, there were 409 emergency calls for alcohol abuse (in the first five months of 2019, there were already just under 150), and there were 2018 calls for drug-related crises in 372 (in the first five months of 2019, there were just under 70). There were even 4.673 road accidents in 2018 – related or not to the use of narcotics and alcohol – (from January to May 2019, there were already 1.395). The dossier reveals that in the summer months, access to 118 for road accidents and drug use increases exponentially. There are two most critical months, July and August, which should be the best months to drive. Sixty days in which the emergency and urgency network barely holds up. Overwork is often caused by the trend of summer “getting high”: alcoholic intoxication to the point of ethyl coma, use of cheap narcotics at the entrance of clubs and discos, or walking along the seafront of seaside resorts. The meeting organized by the Order of Physicians of Naples - in addition to the president Silvestro Scotti, who has always been very attentive to these issues - was attended, among others: Maria de Luzenberger Milnernsheim (Public Prosecutor at the Juvenile Court of Naples), the lawyer Cesare Patroni Griffi and the doctors Alfredo Scarpa, Francesco Puoti, Alessandro Cirillo, Bruno Talento, Giovanni Nolfe, Carla Boccia, Franca Silvana Manco, Maria Ludovica Genna, Alessio Marino and Sanny De Vita.
Article published on 14 June 2019 - 07:45
