Why Italy launches a plan for the improper use of fentanyl
In the United States it is at the center of a national emergency due to the record number of deaths it causes, Italy has raised the alarm level and today the government presented a national plan for the prevention of the improper use of fentanyl. This is why the powerful synthetic opioid also worries our country
It's one of those substances called a "zombie drug" because it "turns users into the walking dead." This was said this morning by the undersecretary of the Prime Minister, Alfredo Mantovano, presenting the national plan for the prevention against the improper use of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids at a press conference at Palazzo Chigi.
In Italy, Mantovano wanted to underline, there is currently no emergency underway but since ours is an interconnected world we cannot ignore what is happening in the United States , where in the last two years it has been responsible for more than two thirds of the 100 thousand deaths for overdoses in the country.
Prevention is, therefore, the watchword of the Italian plan which, with the exception of something similar launched in Sweden, is the first at a European level.
FENTANYL FOR HEALTHCARE USE
Fentanyl has become sadly famous for the overdose deaths caused by this powerful opioid, taken alone or in combination with other narcotic substances , but as the president of the Italian Forensic Toxicologists Group, Sabina Strano Rossi, recalled in the press conference, it is an important drug authorized and used for sedation in anesthesiology, to treat patients with chronic pain who do not respond to other therapies and in cancer patients.
In Italy, as declared to Start by the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, "much of the fentanyl that is used is produced from precursors that come from China, as for many other medicines".
THE RISK OF DEEP AND DARK WEB AND THE SHADOW OF THE 'NDRANGHETA
As regards illegal fentanyl, the plan aims to combat its improper use for purposes other than therapeutic ones, as well as the channels through which it can get into the wrong hands.
In addition to the government's request to pharmacies, hospitals and pharmaceutical warehouses to monitor possible thefts of fentanyl, Mantovano recalled that this is not an easy battle because we also clash with the deep and dark web, where payments are made in bitcoin .
Although for the moment in Europe the deaths connected to this substance are mostly attributable to fentanyl stolen from legitimate distribution channels rather than those of illicit production, "our intelligence indicates an involvement of the 'ndrangheta" which, as stated the undersecretary, "is testing the market to verify the convenience of its inclusion on the market".
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ITALY
Mantovano then highlighted the investigative effort that this potential emergency requires. During the press conference, the case of Piacenza was recalled, where last November, the "Painkiller" operation of the Guardia di Finanza, in collaboration with the US DEA, led to 18 arrests, 7 in our country and 11 in the USA.
The detailed investigative activity, the authorities explained , had brought to light "a profitable trafficking of synthetic drugs on the China-USA route with transit from Italy, managed by a citizen of Piacenza, also found to be at the top of a transnational organization dedicated to counterfeiting and laundering of currency, banknotes and coins".
Among the 100 thousand doses packaged for single consumption of synthetic substances – worth over 250 thousand euros – there was also fentanyl, hidden between the pages of some books. Everything would then have been trafficked through the darkweb and the use of untraceable cryptocurrencies (bitcoins).
When asked by Start whether the case in Piacenza was an isolated case and whether illicit fentanyl laboratories had been identified in Italy, Mantovano replied that so far Piacenza "is an isolated case" but that "there are ongoing investigations concerning contacts with suppliers in China".
However, he added that even from the point of view of investigations it is "a limited phenomenon compared to what happens for example in the United States", while the investigation in other European states is "much more intense, starting with Portugal, because the phenomenon takes hold more there." Mantovano then specified that there had also been reports in the United Kingdom.
WHAT THE PLAN AGAINST FENTANYL INCLUDES
To prevent fentanyl from becoming an emergency like overseas, the government's plan includes prevention and enforcement measures. “Those of prevention – explained Schillaci – focus on strengthening the monitoring and control actions of the distribution and administration of fentanyl in order to avoid the use of the substance for non-health purposes”.
The safety of the places where the substance is stored will be implemented and, in parallel, training courses will be organized for the healthcare personnel involved, aimed at recognizing fentanyl overdoses so as to be able to intervene immediately with the administration of the antidote , known as Narcan, whose active ingredient is naloxone.
“As for the countermeasures – concluded Schillaci -, these will focus on the development of operational procedures aimed at containing the phenomenon, as well as the promotion of information campaigns for the population, with particular attention to the categories at greatest risk of consuming the substance . To counteract the effects of fentanyl, naloxone must never be missing and must be distributed widely across the territory, particularly in the most sensitive places."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/perche-litalia-vara-un-piano-per-luso-improprio-del-fentanyl/ on Tue, 12 Mar 2024 15:15:56 +0000.