Seizures of illicit substances for personal use in two Italian provinces: analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017
Abstract Background The use of illicit substances represents one of the most difficult problems to confront in the health system. Drug use is a global problem but is not uniform throughout the world, within the same country and changes over time. Therefore, knowing the illicit substances that are us...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2019-09-01
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| Series: | Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13011-019-0229-y |
| _version_ | 1811322297911345152 |
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| author | Patrizia Verri Cecilia Rustichelli Anna Ferrari Filippo Marchesi Carlo Baraldi Manuela Licata Daniele Vandelli Federica Palazzoli Francesco Potì Enrico Silingardi |
| author_facet | Patrizia Verri Cecilia Rustichelli Anna Ferrari Filippo Marchesi Carlo Baraldi Manuela Licata Daniele Vandelli Federica Palazzoli Francesco Potì Enrico Silingardi |
| author_sort | Patrizia Verri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The use of illicit substances represents one of the most difficult problems to confront in the health system. Drug use is a global problem but is not uniform throughout the world, within the same country and changes over time. Therefore, knowing the illicit substances that are used in a territory is essential to better organize health services in that specific geographical area. To this aim, we analysed 4200 samples confiscated from individuals who held them for personal use by police forces in the Italian provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia from 2008 to 2017. Methods The suspected samples were screened by gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS); all samples were subsequently analysed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) for quantitative analyses. Results Cannabis was the most seized illicit substance (70.7%). Over the study period, the number of seizures of herb with a high content of Δ9-THC increased. The number of cocaine seizures remained stable (total 16.1%), but the median purity of seized cocaine increased to 75% in 2017. Heroin seizures decreased over time, but the median purity of seized heroin reached 16.8% in 2017. In almost all the years, heroin samples with a purity exceeding the 97.5 percentile were found. Especially from 2014, the range of seized substances increased and started to include synthetic cathinones, phenylethylamines, UR-144, LSD, psilocybe, prescription opioid and hypnotics. In two cases, tramadol together with tropicamide was seized. Most of the seizures involved male subjects and 82% of the seizures were from individuals younger than 35 years of age. Conclusions The persistence of old illicit drugs and the rapid emergence of new psychoactive substances represented a serious challenge for public health in the studied Italian area. Some useful interventions might be: informing mainly young people about the possible complications of cannabis use; implementing standardized procedures to diagnose and treat cocaine-related emergencies in hospitals; increasing the distribution of naloxone to antagonize possible heroin overdoses; equipping laboratories to be able to identify the new psychoactive substances. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T13:32:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7b71660645ab43f1afeb4f4f2c8099db |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1747-597X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T13:32:41Z |
| publishDate | 2019-09-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy |
| spelling | doaj.art-7b71660645ab43f1afeb4f4f2c8099db2022-12-22T02:44:53ZengBMCSubstance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy1747-597X2019-09-0114111110.1186/s13011-019-0229-ySeizures of illicit substances for personal use in two Italian provinces: analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017Patrizia Verri0Cecilia Rustichelli1Anna Ferrari2Filippo Marchesi3Carlo Baraldi4Manuela Licata5Daniele Vandelli6Federica Palazzoli7Francesco Potì8Enrico Silingardi9Forensic Toxicology Laboratory; Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaDepartment of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaUnit of Medical Toxicology, Headache Centre and Drug Abuse; Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaForensic Toxicology Laboratory; Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaSchool of Medical Toxicology, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaForensic Toxicology Laboratory; Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaForensic Toxicology Laboratory; Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaForensic Toxicology Laboratory; Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaUnit of Neuroscience, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of ParmaForensic Toxicology Laboratory; Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio EmiliaAbstract Background The use of illicit substances represents one of the most difficult problems to confront in the health system. Drug use is a global problem but is not uniform throughout the world, within the same country and changes over time. Therefore, knowing the illicit substances that are used in a territory is essential to better organize health services in that specific geographical area. To this aim, we analysed 4200 samples confiscated from individuals who held them for personal use by police forces in the Italian provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia from 2008 to 2017. Methods The suspected samples were screened by gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS); all samples were subsequently analysed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) for quantitative analyses. Results Cannabis was the most seized illicit substance (70.7%). Over the study period, the number of seizures of herb with a high content of Δ9-THC increased. The number of cocaine seizures remained stable (total 16.1%), but the median purity of seized cocaine increased to 75% in 2017. Heroin seizures decreased over time, but the median purity of seized heroin reached 16.8% in 2017. In almost all the years, heroin samples with a purity exceeding the 97.5 percentile were found. Especially from 2014, the range of seized substances increased and started to include synthetic cathinones, phenylethylamines, UR-144, LSD, psilocybe, prescription opioid and hypnotics. In two cases, tramadol together with tropicamide was seized. Most of the seizures involved male subjects and 82% of the seizures were from individuals younger than 35 years of age. Conclusions The persistence of old illicit drugs and the rapid emergence of new psychoactive substances represented a serious challenge for public health in the studied Italian area. Some useful interventions might be: informing mainly young people about the possible complications of cannabis use; implementing standardized procedures to diagnose and treat cocaine-related emergencies in hospitals; increasing the distribution of naloxone to antagonize possible heroin overdoses; equipping laboratories to be able to identify the new psychoactive substances.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13011-019-0229-yDrug seizureIllicit substanceCannabisCocaineHeroinNew psychoactive substance |
| spellingShingle | Patrizia Verri Cecilia Rustichelli Anna Ferrari Filippo Marchesi Carlo Baraldi Manuela Licata Daniele Vandelli Federica Palazzoli Francesco Potì Enrico Silingardi Seizures of illicit substances for personal use in two Italian provinces: analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017 Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy Drug seizure Illicit substance Cannabis Cocaine Heroin New psychoactive substance |
| title | Seizures of illicit substances for personal use in two Italian provinces: analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017 |
| title_full | Seizures of illicit substances for personal use in two Italian provinces: analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017 |
| title_fullStr | Seizures of illicit substances for personal use in two Italian provinces: analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seizures of illicit substances for personal use in two Italian provinces: analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017 |
| title_short | Seizures of illicit substances for personal use in two Italian provinces: analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017 |
| title_sort | seizures of illicit substances for personal use in two italian provinces analysis of trends by type and purity from 2008 to 2017 |
| topic | Drug seizure Illicit substance Cannabis Cocaine Heroin New psychoactive substance |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13011-019-0229-y |
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