Osservatorio europeo delle droghe e delle tossicodipendenze (EMCDDA)
# Relazione europea sulla droga 2017: tendenze e sviluppi
www.emcdda.europa.eu/ Giugno 2017
# EMCDDA, Italy - Country Drug Report 2017, Lisbon, June 2017

# Comunicato dell'agenzia europea delle droghe di Lisbona, 6.6.2017

Faul M, Bohm M, Alexander C. Methadone

# Prescribing and Overdose and the Association with Medicaid Preferred Drug List Policies — United States, 2007–2014

MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2017;66:320–323.

Luigi Manconi, Antonella Soldo, # La tragedia del proibizionismo, L'Unità, 15 febbraio 2017

Domenico "Megu" Chionetti, # Sorvegliare e punire a 16 anni?, Il Manifesto, 15 febbraio 2017
Sei milioni di consumatori di cannabis e oltre 13mila procedimenti penali aperti ogni anno. I dati del fallimento del proibizionismo sono molti e diversi... Eppure la sensazione è che da soli non bastino a spiegare l'insensata tragedia del proibizionismo...

Giacomo Galeazzi, Raphaël Zanotti
# Abusa di psicofarmaci un detenuto su due: "dipendenza nascosta"
La Stampa, 23 gennaio 2017
In un'indagine dell'Agenzia regionale della sanità Toscana che ha coinvolto 57 strutture detentive (il 30% di quelle italiane), cinque regioni (Toscana, Lazio, Umbria, Veneto, Liguria) e Asl di Salerno, per un totale di 15.751 detenuti, spicca un dato: il 46% dei farmaci prescritti sono psicofarmaci. La quasi totalità di questi (95,2%) appartiene al gruppo di molecole che agisce sul sistema nervoso, con gli ansiolitici (37,8% del totale) a fare la parte del leone...

Rose A. Rudd, Puja Seth, Felicita David, Lawrence Scholl,
# Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths — United States, 2010–2015
www.cdc.gov/ December 30, 2016
During 2015, drug overdoses accounted for 52,404 U.S. deaths, including 33,091 (63.1%) that involved an opioid. There has been progress in preventing methadone deaths, and death rates declined by 9.1%. However, rates of deaths involving other opioids, specifically heroin and synthetic opioids other than methadone (likely driven primarily by illicitly manufactured fentanyl), increased sharply overall and across many states. A multifaceted, collaborative public health and law enforcement approach is urgently needed. Response efforts include implementing the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain

Global Commission on Drug Policy
# Advancing Drug Policy Reform: A New Approach to Decriminalization. 2016 Report
www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/ November 2016
Prohibition makes societies and governments blind to the great variety of reasons why people use drugs either in a controlled or a problematic way. It contributes to the discrimination and marginalization of drug users, considering them as undeserving of understanding and help, when they need treatment and social integration. Furthermore, it justifies criminalizing people who cause no harm to others and punishing those who are suffering. Prohibition also limits scientific research about the possible medical utility of illicit substances...

Federica Lamanna
# L'evoluzione legislativa in materia di sostanze stupefacenti
www.diritto.it/ 4 novembre 2016

Prima di arrivare alla scelta proibizionista di politica legislativa, sul finire dell’ottocento, anche in Italia, in linea con lo spirito liberale di quegli anni, l’assunzione di allucinogeni o stimolanti veniva “considerata una scelta non sindacabile del singolo individuo, senza interferenze dello Stato o dell’autorità pubblica”. Si riteneva, infatti, che il codice Zanardelli del 1889, che vietava la vendita e la circolazione di “cose pericolose per la salute umana”, non si riferisse alle droghe...

Harald Klingemann
# Dipendenze, come cambiare da sé
www.ilmanifesto.it/ 12.10.2016
L’auto cambiamento (self change), definito in termini clinici come remissione spontanea», è il processo attraverso cui una persona riesce a uscire da una condizione sfavorevole, non voluta, senza un aiuto professionale: può essere l’uscita da una carriera deviante, oppure dalla dipendenza da sostanze... 

Harald Klingemann
# I Don’t Know Your Way. From Self-Change to Assisted Change from Addiction
Forum Droghe Coordinamento Nazionale Comunità di Accoglienza - CNCA Coordinamento Toscano Comunità di Accoglienza – CTCA | Summer School 2016, Florence, September 8th-10th

ASAM American Society of Addiction Medicine
# Opioid Addiction - 2016 Facts & Figures
www.asam.org/ 2016
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 55,403 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 12,990 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2015.  From 1999 to 2008, overdose death rates, sales and substance use disorder treatment admissions related to prescription pain relievers increased in parallel. The overdose death rate in 2008 was nearly four times the 1999 rate; sales of prescription pain relievers in 2010 were four times those in 1999; and the substance use disorder treatment admission rate in 2009 was six times the 1999 rate... 

Andrea Baiguera Altieri
# Le disposizioni penali della legge federale svizzera sugli stupefacenti
www.diritto.it/ 5 ottobre 2016

Angus C, Holmes J, Pryce R, Meier P, Brennan A
# Alcohol and cancer trends: Intervention Studies
University of Sheffield and Cancer Research UK

Liana Jacobi, Michelle Sovinsky
# Marijuana on Main Street? Estimating Demand in Markets with Limited Access
American Economic Review 2016, 106(8): 2009–2045
If marijuana were legalized, those under 30 would see modest increases in use of 28 percent, while on average use would increase by 48 percent (to 19.4 percent). Tax policies are effective at curbing use, where Australia could raise AU$1 billion (and the United States US$12 billion). 

Maurizio Ricci # Aumento dei consumatori ma risparmi per tre miliardi: ecco quanto vale la cannabis di Stato www.repubblica.it/ 19 agosto 2016

Camilla Doninelli # Legalizzazione cannabis: quanto ci guadagna lo Stato? www.lindro.it/ 12 agosto 2016

ASAM American Society of Addiction Medicine
# Opioid Addiction, 2016 Facts & Figures
www.asam.org/
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 47,055 lethal drug overdoses in 2014. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 18,893 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 10,574 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2014...

Valeria Pini # Eroina, boom di vittime negli Stati Uniti: 28 mila morti in un anno www.repubblica.it/ 17 agosto 2016

Franco Corleone, Stefano Anastasia, Leonardo Fiorentini (a cura di)
# 7° Libro Bianco sulla legge sulle droghe. Dopo UNGASS 2016. Un anno di cambiamento nel mondo. Proposte per superare lo stallo in Italia, in Parlamento e nel Paese  #  ... in pillole
La società della ragione - Forum Droghe - Antigone - CNCA | Collaborazione: CGIL, Comunità di San Benedetto al Porto, Gruppo Abele, Itaca, ITARDD, LegaCoopSociali, LILA, Associazione Luca Coscioni - Prima edizione - Giugno 2016

# Camera dei deputati, Proposta di Legge n. 3235 presentata il 16 luglio 2015

Osservatorio europeo delle droghe e delle tossicodipendenze (EMCDDA)
# Relazione europea sulla droga. Tendenze e sviluppi
Osservatorio europeo delle droghe e delle tossicodipendenze, 2016
L’analisi qui presentata descrive un mercato europeo della droga che si conferma resiliente, con alcuni indicatori, per la cannabis e gli stimolanti in particolare, attualmente in ascesa. Nel complesso, dai dati relativi all’offerta si evince che la purezza o la potenza della maggior parte delle sostanze illecite sono elevate o in aumento. La maggioranza dei recenti dati relativi all’indagine sulla prevalenza mostra a sua volta modesti aumenti nel consumo stimato delle sostanze stupefacenti più comunemente assunte...

Council of the European Union
# Risk assessment report on a new psychoactive substance: methyl 2-[[1-(cyclohexylmethyl)-1H-indole-3-carbonyl]amino]-3,3-dimethylbutanoate (MDMB-CHMICA)
http://data.consilium.europa.eu/ Brussels, 28 July 2016

Castlight Health
# The opioid crisis in America’s workforce
www.ncmedsoc.org/ 2016
The opioid crisis touches every community in America and has a devastating impact on families, neighborhoods, and the workforce at large. While policymakers, public health officials, the healthcare industry, and many other stakeholders are engaged on this critical issue, American employers can also help address this crisis. Harnessing powerful data and analytics can help employers better understand their employees’ needs as they relate to opioid use and abuse, and guide them to the right care at the right time.

SIAPAD | Regione Lombardia
# Il consumo di sostanze psicoattive legali/illegali nella popolazione residente in Lombardia
www.droga.net/ Giugno 2016
Certamente gli universi osservabili all’interno dei Servizi di cura e fuori sono molto differenti. Tra i cittadini lombardi compresi tra i 15 ed i 64 anni, circa un milione di persone (15-64 anni) dichiara di essersi ubriacato nell’ultimo anno e nella fascia più giovane, tra i 15 ed i 24 anni, si è ubriacata una persona su tre. Quasi due milioni di persone fumano abitualmente tabacco e, tra i 15 e i 24 anni, la percentuale di fumatori abituali è superiore alle altre fasce di età e si colloca al 35,4% . Sono più di 800.000 le persone che hanno assunto una droga illecita almeno una volta nel corso dell’anno: tra i 15 e i 24 anni si tratta di più di una persona su tre. Sempre nell’ultimo anno 703.000 cittadini lombardi hanno usato cannabis: nella fascia di età tra i 15 ed i 24 anni è il 29,3% della popolazione intervistata. 117.000 cittadini ombardi hanno usato cocaina. Più di 252.000 cittadini lombardi hanno dichiarato l’uso di altre sostanze oltre cocaina eroina e cannabis. In testa la cannabis sintetica. A margine è importante notare come i mix di sostanze diverse, anche in grado di potenziarne gli effetti negativi (es. cocaina ed alcol) sono frequenti.

Drug Policy Alliance
# Fact Sheet: Synthetic Cathinones
www.drugpolicy.org/ June 2016
In the U.S., while most states and the national focus remains on prohibiting synthetic cathinones and other NPS, this approach actually drives the creation of riskier and less well known substances. Prohibition also drives mass incarceration and the many other harms association with arrest and imprisonment. In 2013, New Zealand took a new approach to the market for synthetic drugs by creating regulated restrictions for licensed importation, manufacture, and commerce of synthetic cathinones and other NPS .

Luca Morassutto
# Canapa, 7 piante a Ferrara non sono reato
Il Manifesto, 1 giugno 2016

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC
# World Drug Report 2016
United Nations, May 2016

It is estimated that 1 in 20 adults, or a quarter of a billion people between the ages of 15 and 64 years, used at least one drug in 2014. Roughly the equivalent of the combined populations of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, though a substantial amount, it is one that does not seem to have grown over the past four years in proportion to the global population. Nevertheless, as over 29 million people who use drugs are estimated to suffer from drug use disorders, and of those, 12 million are people who inject drugs (PWID), of whom 14.0 per cent are living with HIV, the impact of drug use in terms of its consequences on health continues to be devastating.

Louis Appleby, Nav Kapur, Jenny Shaw, Pauline Turnbull, Kirsten Windfuhr, Saied Ibrahim, Cathryn Rodway, Su-Gwan Tham
# Suicide by children and young people in England. National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (NCISH)
www.bbmh.manchester.ac.uk/ University of Manchester, May 2016
Alcohol use was reported to be excessive in 34 (26%). Illicit drug use was reported in 38 (29%). Twenty-seven (21%) had taken illicit drugs in the 3 months prior to death, and in 6 this included drugs other than cannabis. Four were known to have taken “legal highs”. Fifty-one (39%) had a diagnosis of mental illness. Affective disorder (bipolar affective disorder or depression) was the most common diagnosis. Twenty (15%) people were receiving antidepressants, and in 17 (13%) these were SSRI drugs.

Sameer Imtiaz, Jürgen Rehm
# The impact of prescription opioids on all-cause mortality in Canada
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy (2016) 11:27
An influential study from the United States generated considerable discussion and debate. This study documented rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century, with clear linkages of all-cause mortality to increasing rates of poisonings, suicides and chronic liver disease deaths. All of these causes of deaths are strongly related to the use of legal and illegal substances, but the study stressed the importance of prescription opioids. Given the similarities between the United States and Canada in prescription opioid use, the assessment of similar all-cause mortality trends is relevant for Canada. As this commentary highlights, the all-cause mortality shifts seen in the United States cannot be seen in Canada for either sex or age groups. The exact reasons for the differences between the two countries are not clear, but it is important for public health to further explore this question.

Cassazione Penale Sez. 1

# Sentenza n. 14008 del  2016
Data Udienza: 13/01/2016 - dep. 7 aprile 2016
... Il DSM V introduce una nuova distinzione all'interno della categoria generale "disturbi da uso di sostanze", rielaborando i criteri per la diagnosi di questi disturbi, distinti attraverso la loro graduazione in lievi, moderati e gravi. Ne discende conclusivamente che le conclusioni alle quali è giunto il Tribunale di sorveglianza di Roma fanno riferimento a una versione superata del manuale diagnostico richiamato, imponendo un nuovo esame che tenga conto dell'evoluzione dei parametri nosografici applicabili alle ipotesi di abuso di sostanze stupefacenti, cui ci si è riferiti.

Francesco Machina Grifeo
# Stupefacenti, la collaborazione del reo può prevalere sulla recidiva reiterata
Il Sole 24 Ore, 8 aprile 2016

# Corte Costituzionale, Sentenza n. 74 dep. 7 aprile 2016

Giorgio Bignami
# Droghe, la scienza di regime depone le armi
Il Manifesto, 16 marzo 2016
Pur con le dovute riserve sulle ambiguità di una presa di posizione per alcuni aspetti "cerchiobottista", par di intravedere una cauta apertura degli scienziati del governo americano a una diversa politica delle droghe; compresa una presa di distanza dalla quasi secolare demonizzazione del consumo moderato di cannabis.

Mariagrazia Fasoli, Alessandra Ramera, Patrizia Furba
# La prescrizione di oppiacei nella terapia delle tossicomanie: aspetti medico-legali. Prima parte: principi generali (Versione aggiornata al 10 febbraio 2016)
www.sdrogabrescia.org/ 2016

Mariagrazia Fasoli, Alessandra Ramera
# La prescrizione di oppiacei nella terapia delle tossicomanie: aspetti medico-legali. Seconda parte: procedure mediche e infermieristiche (versione aggiornata al 28 febbraio 2016)
www.sdrogabrescia.org/ 2016

Gen Sander
# HIV, HCV, TB and Harm Reduction in Prisons. Human Rights, Minimum Standards and Monitoring at the European and International Levels
www.ihra.net/ February 2016

Gen Sander
# Monitoring HIV, HCV, TB and Harm Reduction in Prisons: A Human Rights-Based Tool to Prevent Ill Treatment
www.ihra.net/ February 2016

Nora D. Volkow, James M. Swanson, A. Eden Evins, Lynn E. DeLisi, Madeline H. Meier, Raul Gonzalez, Michael A. P. Bloomfield,H. Valerie Curran, Ruben Baler
# Effects of Cannabis Use on Human Behavior, Including Cognition, Motivation, and Psychosis: A Review
JAMA Psychiatry, Published online February 3, 2016
With a political debate about the potential risks and benefits of cannabis use as a backdrop, the wave of legalization and liberalization initiatives continues to spread. Four states (Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska) and the District of Columbia have passed laws that legalized cannabis for recreational use by adults, and 23 others plus the District of Columbia now regulate cannabis use for medical purposes. These policy changes could trigger a broad range of unintended consequences, with profound and lasting implications for the health and social systems in our country. Cannabis use is emerging as one among many interacting factors that can affect brain development and mental function. To inform the political discourse with scientific evidence, the literature was reviewed to identify what is known and not known about the effects of cannabis use on human behavior, including cognition, motivation, and psychosis.

Harm Reduction International
# Realising Rights: Developing Human Rights-based Indicators for Drug Control
www.ihra.net/ 21st January 2016
Briefing for Member States at the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy and UN University event ‘Identifying Common Ground for UNGASS 2016: Rethinking Metrics to Evaluate Drug Policy’

Rose A. Rudd, Noah Aleshire, Jon E. Zibbell, R. Matthew Gladden
# Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths — United States, 2000–2014
www.cdc.gov/ January 1, 2016 / 64(50);1378-82

HM Inspectorate of Prisons | Rachel Prime, Helen Ranns, Majella Pearce,Sigrid Engelen, Paul Roberts
# Changing patterns of substance misuse in adult prisons and service responses
www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/ December 2015
There are important differences between drug misuse in prisons and the community. A declining number of prisoners needing treatment for opiate misuse reflects trends in the community, although many of those requiring opiate treatment in prison have complex dependence, social, physical and mental health issues. Prisoners are more likely to use depressants than stimulants to counter the boredom and stress of prison life. The use of synthetic cannabis and diverted medication reflects a response to comparative weaknesses in security measures. Often, the price of drugs is higher and the quality poorer in prison, reflecting greater difficulty of supply.

National Institute on Drug Abuse
# Prescription Opioids and Heroin
Updated December 2015
Drug overdose deaths involving prescription opioid pain relievers have increased dramatically since 1999. Pooling data from 2002 to 2012, the incidence of heroin initiation was 19 times higher among those who reported prior nonmedical pain reliever use than among those who did not (0.39 vs. 0.02 percent). A study of young, urban injection drug users interviewed in 2008 and 2009 found that 86 percent had used opioid pain relievers nonmedically prior to using heroin, and their initiation into nonmedical use was characterized by three main sources of opioids: family, friends, or personal prescriptions...

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
# The Prescription Opioid Epidemic: An Evidence Based Approach
www.jhsph.edu/ November 2015

More than 100,000 people in the United States have died — directly or indirectly — from prescribed opioids since prescribing policies changed in the late 1990’s...

Carta di Milano 2015
# Cambiamo verso sulle droghe. Adesso! Da Genova a Milano verso New York 2016
25 novembre 2015

Ministero della Salute | Decreto 9 novembre 2015
# Funzioni di Organismo statale per la cannabis previsto dagli articoli 23 e 28 della convenzione unica sugli stupefacenti del 1961, come modificata nel 1972. (15A08888)
(GU n.279 del 30-11-2015)

Sari Horwitz
# Justice Department set to free 6,000 prisoners, largest one-time release
The Washington Post, October 6, 2015
The Justice Department is set to release about 6,000 inmates early from prison — the largest onetime release of federal prisoners — in an effort to reduce overcrowding and provide relief to drug offenders who received harsh sentences over the past three decades, according to U.S. officials...

Piero David, Ferdinando Ofria
# Droghe leggere: la legalizzazione è un buon affare
www.lavoce.info/ 19.08.15
L’esperienza del Colorado mostra che la legalizzazione delle droghe leggere non comporta aumenti di spesa sanitaria. Diminuiscono, invece, i furti e in generale le risorse impiegate per reprimere il fenomeno. Senza contare gli introiti fiscali per le casse dello Stato.

Luigi Marini
# Carcere, droga e intervento penale in Usa. Un dibattito aperto
Questione Giustizia 3/2015
Le politiche criminali seguite a partire dagli anni ‘80 e, soprattutto, la cd «Guerra alla droga» hanno portato nelle carceri Usa milioni di persone, per la gran parte giovani appartenenti alle classi e ai gruppi marginali. I costi economici e sociali sono oggi considerati insostenibili da rappresentanti di entrambi gli schieramenti politici e a livello federale si registrano progetti di legge e scelte di gestione dei reati che intendono invertire la tendenza.

Lloyd D. Johnston, Patrick M. O’Malley, Richard A. Miech, Jerald G. Bachman, John E. Schulenberg
# 2014 Overview Key Findings on Adolescent Drug Use
www.monitoringthefuture.org/ The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, 2015
Although use of marijuana declined in 2014, youth marijuana attitudes moved toward greater acceptance. Perceived risk of regular marijuana use declined in all three grades, though not significantly. In 2014 the percentages of youth who believe regular marijuana use results in “great harm” physically or in other ways continued its longer-term decline... Additional drugs with declining prevalence include: synthetic marijuana, bath salts, narcotics other than heroin (including the specific drugs Vicodin and OxyContin), ectsasy (MDMA), hallucinogens other than LSD, Salvia, overthe- ounter cough and cold medicines, amphetamine use without a doctor’s orders, Ritalin, Adderall, ‘crack’ cocaine, and any prescription psychotherapeutic drug.

Lloyd D. Johnston, Patrick M. O’Malley, Jerald G. Bachman, John E. Schulenberg, Richard A. Miech
# Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975–2014: Volume 2, College students and adults ages 19–55
www.monitoringthefuture.org/ The University of Michigan, July 2015

Marijuana was seen as the least risky of the illicit drugs, although sharp distinctions were made between different levels of marijuana use. In 2014, experimental use of marijuana was perceived as being of great risk by only 8– to 10% of all high school graduates ages 19–30, whereas regular use was perceived to carry great risk by a considerably higher percentage (35–to 36%). Since 2006 there have been very substantial declines in perceived risk for regular marijuana use...

Home Office - National Statistics | Deborah Lader (ed)
# Drug Misuse: Findings from the 2014/15 Crime Survey for England and Wales
Statistical Bulletin 03/15, July 2015
As shown in previous years, the level of any drug use in the last year was highest among the youngest age groups; 18.8 per cent of 16 to 19 year olds and 19.8 per cent of 20 to 24 year olds reported any drug use in the last year. Levels of illicit drug use then decreased as age increased, from 12.5 per cent of those aged 25 to 29 to 2.4 per cent of 55 to 59 year olds. Across all drug types, levels of use in the last year were highest among the youngest age groups, and with the exception of ketamine, specifically those aged 20 to 24. However, not all differences between adjacent age groups were statistically significant, with levels of use in the last year being at similar levels for 16 to 19 year olds for some drug types (hallucinogens, amphetamines, cannabis, mephedrone, ketamine, and amylnitrite).

Lorenzo Mantelli
# Cannabis legale, i vantaggi per le casse dello Stato
lettera43.it, 31 luglio 2015

Con la marijuana libera, 10 mld di beneficio per i conti pubblici. E Pil in crescita. Mentre calerebbe la spesa che il governo stanzia per la lotta alle droghe leggere.

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
# Synthetic drug production in Europe
www.emcdda.europa.eu/ Updated 29. 5. 2015

UNODC
# Drug Money: the illicit proceeds of opiates trafficked on the Balkan route
www.unodc.org/ 2015

Intergruppo parlamentare per la legalizzazione della cannabis
# Norme per la legalizzazione della cannabis e dei suoi derivati - Proposta di legge
www.fuoriluogo.it/ 15 luglio 2015
I punti fondamentali e basilari della proposta: -Monopolio dello Stato sulla Produzione e sulla Commercializzazione della Cannabis;  -Possibilità di Coltivare fino a 5 piante in forma privata;  -Possibilità di creare “Cannabis Social Club”;  -Detenzione consentita di grammi 15 nella propria abitazione; -Detenzione consentita di grammi 5 fuori dalla propria abitazione.

# Camera dei deputati, Proposta di Legge n. 3235 presentata il 16 luglio 2015

Paolo Pontoniere
# Nootropiche, nella Silicon Valley è allarme per le "droghe intelligenti".
www.repubblica.it/ 28 maggio 2015
Sono diffuse tra i programmatori di software. Invece di attutire i sensi, li acuiscono. E gli scienziati si interrogano sugli effetti a lungo termine... le nootropiche non sono senza rischio. Una ricerca condotta nel 2014 dalla Drexell University di Pittsburg in Pennsylvania ha infatti rilevato che il Ritalin, il modafinil, le ampakines e altri neurostimolatori possono ridurre la plasticità dei network neuronali del cervello causando un'overdose di dopamina, glutammato e norepinefrina. Ancora più preoccupanti gli effetti collaterali nei giovani fino ai 25, 30 anni, età nella quali il cervello si sta ancora sviluppando. In questo caso i danni possono essere di lunga durata e gli stimolanti possono avere l'effetto contrario a quello desiderato.

# cfr. Kimberly R. Urban, Wen-Jun Gao Performance enhancement at the cost of potential brain plasticity: neural ramifications of nootropic drugs in the healthy developing brain, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ frontiers in systems neurosciences, 13 may 2014

Beau Kilmer
# The “10 Ps” of Marijuana Legalization
Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies. Spring 2015
When it comes to marijuana legalization, we are in uncharted waters. There is much to learn from what is happening with the earliest adopters — Colorado and Washington — but their for-profit commercial approach is only one alternative to easing marijuana prohibition.  The home production model in Washington, D.C., and collectives being implemented in Uruguay highlight some of the other non-commercial approaches.

FederSerd

# Carta di Roma per i diritti del detenuto consumatore di sostanze: i principi etici e scientifici per il trattamento del detenuto consumatore di sostanze

Aprile 2015

Pietro Fausto D’Egidio - FederSerd
# Tossicodipendenze. FederSerd: “Nella relazione al Parlamento non si trascuri l’operato dei Serd”
www.quotidianosanita.it/ 30 marzo 2015
...Fino ad oggi non è stato così. Troppe volte, soprattutto negli anni più recenti, il Rapporto al Parlamento non ha svolto la sua funzione. Pensiamo invece ad una Relazione 2015 che per la prima volta sia capace di rappresentare il potenziale tecnico scientifico e organizzativo dei SerD e la valutazione dei risultati raggiunti

The Centre for Social Justice
# Drugs in Prison
www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/ March 2015
The use of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) has skyrocketed in prison over recent years. NPS are similar to “traditional” illegal drugs, but their chemical structures have been altered in order to evade current laws. One particular type of NPS, called “Spice” (a synthetic cannabinoid), dominates the drugs market in prisons in England and Wales: Prison seizures of Spice increased from just 15 in 2010 to around 737 in 2014; It is difficult to determine precisely the proportion of prisoners using Spice, as it is not tested for, yet it was suggested to the CSJ that a majority of prisoners were regularly taking it...

Tista S. Ghosh, Michael Van Dyke, Ali Maffey, Elizabeth Whitley, Dana Erpelding, Larry Wolk
# Medical Marijuana’s Public Health Lessons — Implications for Retail Marijuana in Colorado
The New England Journal of Medicine, March 12, 2015
Colorado has created surveillance systems to monitor the numbers of emergency department visits and hospitalizations related to marijuana use, as well as data on calls to poison-control centers. These efforts should permit early identification of trends and provide data to support any policies or regulations needed to protect children...

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – News
# Droghe: mi faccio ma non so di che
www.cnr.it/23/03/2015
# ESPAD Italia 2014 – I consumi delle sostanze tra gli studenti italiani. Come si distribuiscono lungo lo stivale nazionale? | # ESPAD®Italia 2014 Questionario | # Studio Espad Italia Ifc-Cnr: l'universo dei consumi di sostanze psicoattive e dei comportamenti a rischio tra gli adolescenti - www.iss.it/ 20-05-2014

Maurizio Ricci
# Le mani di Big Tobacco sulla marijuana legalizzata
La Repubblica, 14 marzo 2015 (p. 21)
Stati Uniti: Dopo la liberalizzazione della "erba" in Colorado e Oregon, Philip Morris, Reynolds & co si gettano sul nuovo mercato: in ballo ci sono 36 miliardi di dollari l'anno... Negli Usa, è già "Big Pot": il negato, ma, per molti, inevitabile matrimonio fra Big Tobacco e il "cannabusiness", nome ormai ufficiale della marijuana legalizzata. 

# Leonid Bershidsky, Big Tobacco's Future: Big Pot, www.bloombergview.com/ Feb 20, 2015

Grazia Zuffa
# L’Onu e le droghe, è l’ora della svolta
www.ilmanifesto.info/ 10.3.2015
L'Assemblea Generale del 1998 segnò il culmine della retorica della "lotta alla droga": con lo slogan: a drug free world, we can do it e con la Dichiarazione Politica finale che fissava come obiettivi la "eliminazione della coca, del papavero da oppio e della cannabis entro il 2008"... Dalla seconda decade del 2000, si assiste ad una forte accelerazione nella riforma della politica delle droghe. Il regime internazionale è contestato apertamente nei paesi che più ne sopportano il peso...

Andrew Kubas, Poyraz Kayabas, Kimberly Vachal
# Assessment of the 24/7 Sobriety Program in North Dakota: Participant Behavior During Enrollment
North Dakota State University, March 2015
The 24/7 Sobriety Program is an intervention strategy mandating that repeat impaired driving offenders remain sober as a condition of bond or pre-trial release. The goal is to monitor the most dangerous offenders in North Dakota and require that these individuals remain sober in order to keep roadways safe from hazardous drivers. As a component of the program, offenders are required to submit to twice-a-day blood alcohol concentration tests, ankle bracelet monitoring, drug patches, urinalysis, or a combination of techniques. If a program participant fails to remain sober, the individual is sent directly to jail.

Marta Di Forti, Arianna Marconi, Elena Carra, Sara Fraietta, Antonella Trotta, Matteo Bonomo, Francesca Bianconi, Poonam Gardner-Sood, Jennifer O’Connor, Manuela Russo, Simona A Stilo, Tiago Reis Marques, Valeria Mondelli, Paola Dazzan, Carmine Pariante, Anthony S David, Fiona Gaughran, Zerrin Atakan, Conrad Iyegbe, John Powell, Craig Morgan, Michael Lynskey, Robin M Murray

# Proportion of patients in south London with first-episode psychosis attributable to use of high potency cannabis: a case-control study
Lancet Psychiatry, February 18, 2015
Between May 1, 2005, and May 31, 2011, we obtained data from 410 patients with first-episode psychosis and 370 population controls. The risk of individuals having a psychotic disorder showed a roughly three-times increase in users of skunk-like cannabis compared with those who never used cannabis (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2·92, 95% CI 1·52– ·45, p=0·001). Use of skunk-like cannabis every day conferred the highest risk of psychotic disorders compared with no use of cannabis (adjusted OR 5·4, 95% CI 2·81–11·31, p=0·002). The population attributable fraction of firstepisode psychosis for skunk use for our geographical area was 24% (95% CI 17–31), possibly because of the high prevalence  of use of high-potency cannabis (218 [53%] of 410 patients) in our study.

David Nutt
# The UK needs common sense about ketamine
www.theguardian.com/ Wednesday 18 February 2015
Ketamine is a vital medicine, and restricting it has harmed patients without cutting recreational use. Britain should stand up to the UN’s failed ‘war on drugs’. Ketamine is a unique anaesthetic and analgesic that has unfortunately become a popular and harmful recreational drug...

# Sarah Boseley, Ketamine control plan condemned as potential disaster for world's rural poor, www.theguardian.com/ Friday 27 February 2015

Transnational Institute drugs and democracy
# Fact Sheet on the Proposal to Discuss International Scheduling of Ketamine at the 58th CND
www.druglawreform.info/ Feb 27, 2015
Ketamine is an essential medicine used for anaesthesia. It is the only available anaesthetic for essential surgery in most rural areas of developing countries, home to more than 2 billion of the world’s people. Scheduling ketamine will leave these populations with no alternative anaesthesia for essential surgery, and will further deepen the already acute crisis of global surgery.

Roberto Saviano
# L'erba contro i narcos
www.repubblica.it/ 12 febbraio 2015
Per la prima volta nella loro storia i cartelli messicani hanno visto precipitare la richiesta di marijuana. Entra in crisi un business miliardario che sino ad ora non aveva mai subito flessioni. I dati diffusi dalla polizia frontaliera americana (l'Us Border Patrol) non lasciano spazi a dubbi: la riduzione del traffico di erba nel 2014 è stata del 24% rispetto al 2011. Che è successo? Nessuno fuma più spinelli? Una stagione di arresti particolarmente efficace? La risposta è più semplice: ed è la legalizzazione delle droghe leggere in Colorado e nello Stato di Washington...

Francesco Sanna
# Marijuana, Colorado un anno dopo: meno reati e incidenti, più soldi per l’erario
www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/ 3 gennaio 2015

Faculty of Addictions Psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrists | Owen Bowden-Jones, Chris Fitch, Christopher Hilton, Joel Lewis, Grace Ofori-Attah
# One new drug a week. Why novel psychoactive substances and club drugs need a different response from UK treatment providers
The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2014
Drug use in the UK is changing. Ten years ago, reports describing the harms of substance use were dominated by illegal drugs such as heroin, crack and ecstasy. A decade later, a new set of drug-related problems has emerged with... the increasing availability of drugs deliberately manufactured to legally mimic the effects of traditional recreational drugs (often known as legal highs or novel psychoactive substances (NPS))...

Ezio Manzato, Fabio Lugoboni, Cristina Biasin, Sara Rosa, Giuseppina Cifelli, Gisella Manzato, Felice Nava
# Le benzodiazepine e i disturbi d’ansia: utilizzo clinico corretto, abuso, dipendenza e strategie di disassuefazione
www.federserd.it/ Mission, 42, 2014

Nella pratica clinica è stato evidenziato che la prognosi con una disintossicazione da BDZ lenta è solitamente abbastanza buona, con due terzi di pazienti che raggiungono la cessazione completa; altri soggetti invece riescono a ottenere solo una riduzione del dosaggio dell’agente farmacologico: questo è un outcome del trattamento inadeguato in quanto tali pazienti ricadono in percentuale alta. Infatti i soggetti che falliscono l’interruzione completa delle BDZ hanno una prognosi scarsa e ripetono i fallimenti.

Gill Bradbury, Danny Morris, Neil Hunt
# Overdose prevention from prison. Best practices from Scotland, Denmark, Italy and Spain
Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, 2014
The Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) is a regional network of harm reduction programmes, groups of people who use drugs and their allies from across 29 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) who work to advocate for the universal human rights of people who use drugs in order to protect their lives and health. EHRN’s mission it is to promote humane, evidence-based harm reduction approaches to drug use, with the aim of improving health and well-being, while protecting human rights at the individual, community and societal level.

RCPsych in Wales
# National Assembly for Wales - Health and Social Care Committee Inquiry into new psychoactive substances (“legal highs”)
The Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales 2014
Statistics from the Global Drug Survey, 2014 paint an alarming picture, particularly in terms of the biggest users of research chemicals and legal highs. The United Kingdom trails only the US in the percentage of users of legal highs in the past 12 months. 22% of respondents from the UK said they had bought drugs on the internet.

Maurizio Fea
# Le condizioni necessarie per poter parlare di scelte responsabili
www.federserd.it/ Mission, 41, 2014

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons
# Response to National Assembly for Wales - Health and Social Care Committee: Inquiry into new psychoactive substances
HM Inspectorate of Prisons - 28 October 2014
The number of violent incidents had increased since the last inspection and there had been two recent serious assaults. Although the level was still low, more prisoners reported victimisation than at the last inspection and at similar establishments. This appeared, at least in part, to be due to the availability of ‘Spice’ – a synthetic cannabinoid – and associated debt and bullying. Current testing methods did not detect Spice, so the very low positive drug testing rate did not give an accurate picture of the availability of drugs in the prison. The prison’s response to the issue was inadequate

# HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales - Annual Report 2013–14

Global Commission on Drug Policy
# Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies That Work
http://static.squarespace.com/ September 2014
The international drug control regime is broken. In our 2011 report we called on global leaders to join an open conversation on drug policy reform... We asked policy makers to break the fifty year taboo on talking about more effective and humane ways to manage drugs... Today, three years later, we are pleased to see that a genuine debate on new approaches to drug policy is underway in an array of national and regional forums. Crucially, the discussion is based on evidence, and new, exciting innovations are spreading across the Americas, Africa, Europe, South and South East Asia, and Australia and the South Pacific.

California Budget Project
# Proposition 47: Should Cslifornia Reduce Penalties for Drug and Property Crimes and Invest in Treatment?
http://www.cbp.org/ September 2014
Proposition 47, which will appear on the November 4, 2014 statewide ballot, would amend the state Penal Code to reclassify certain drug and property crimes as misdemeanors and allow people previously convicted of these crimes to be resentenced. Additionally, Proposition 47 would invest state criminal justice savings resulting from these sentencing changes in drug and mental health treatment, as well as in victim services and programs designed to improve outcomes for K-12 public school students. This Budget Brief provides an overview of this measure and the policy issues it raises. The California Budget Project (CBP) neither supports nor opposes Proposition 47.

UNODC, Global SMART Update. Methamphetamine manufacture:
# Global Patterns and Regional Differences Volume 12
www.pnsd.msssi.gob.es/ September 2014
The threat of synthetic drugs is a significant drug problem worldwide. After cannabis, amphetaminetype stimulants (ATS) are the second most widely used drugs in the world, exceeding the use of cocaine and heroin. Along with ATS, the continued growth of the market for new psychoactive substances (NPS) over the last years has become a policy challenge and of major international concern.

Jesse Wegmam
# The Injustice of Marijuana Arrests
www.nyt.com/ 28 july 2014
In New York City, where the strategy was introduced and remains popular today, the police made fewer than 800 marijuana arrests in 1991. In 2010, they made more than 59,000. Nationwide, the numbers are hardly better. From 2001 to 2010, the police made more than 8.2 million marijuana arrests; almost nine in 10 were for possession alone. In 2011, there were more arrests for marijuana possession than for all violent crimes put together.

LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy
# Ending the Drug Wars. Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy
http://www.lse.ac.uk/ May 2014
The pursuit of a militarised and enforcement-led global ‘war on drugs’ strategy has produced enormous negative outcomes and collateral damage. These include mass incarceration in the US, highly repressive policies in Asia, vast corruption and political destabilisation in Afghanistan and West Africa, immense violence in Latin America, an HIV epidemic in Russia, an acute global shortage of pain medication and the propagation of systematic human rights abuses around the world. The strategy has failed based on its own terms...

Symeon Brown
# Synthetic cannabis causing serious health problems in English prisons. Prisoners increasingly using 'spice', which is undetectable but has put growing numbers of users in hospital
www.theguardian.com/ Thursday 15 May 2014
Synthetic cannabis known as "spice" or "black mamba" is a growing problem in UK prisons with serious physical and mental health consequences, the chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick has said. Its popularity with inmates has surged because the psychoactive designer drug can be passed off as a tobacco roll-up, has no distinctive smell and it evades current drug testing capabilities in prisons.

Global Drug Survey GDS2014
# Last 12 Month Prevalence of Top 20 Drugs
www.globaldrugsurvey.com/ April 2014

Betty Tai, Steven Sparenborg, Udi E Ghitza, David Liu
# Expanding the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network to address the management of substance use disorders in general medical settings
www.dovepress.com/ Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation 2014:5 75–80
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (2008) expand substance use disorder (SUD) care services in the USA into general medical settings. Care offered in these settings will engage substance-using patients in an integrated and patient-centered environment that addresses physical and mental health comorbidities and follows a chronic care model. This expansion of SUD services presents a great need for evidence-based practices useful in general medical settings, and reveals several research gaps to be addressed.

Corte Suprema di Cassazione - Quarta Sezione Penale
# Sentenza 28198/14
30 giugno 2014 (Romis Pres.)
Anche chi ha patteggiato per reati di droga ha diritto a una revisione della sua pena, per effetto della parziale abolizione della legge Fini-Giovanardi dopo la dichiarazione di illegittimità da parte della Corte costituzionale che ha condotto a una rivisitazione della disciplina. La Cassazione, con la sentenza 28198 depositata ieri, afferma l'applicabilità del trattamento più favorevole al reo, anche quando la pena è stata concordata dalle parti.

Mandy Stahre, Jim Roeber, Dafna Kanny, Robert D. Brewer, Xingyou Zhang
# Contribution of Excessive Alcohol Consumption to Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost in the United States
www.cdc.gov/ Prev Chronic Dis, Volume 11 — June 26, 2014
Excessive drinking accounted for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults in the United States. AAD rates vary across states, but excessive drinking  remains a leading cause of premature mortality nationwide. Strategies recommended by the Community Preventive Services Task Force can help reduce excessive drinking and harms related to it.

Nicholas B. King, Veronique Fraser, Constantina Boikos, Robin Richardson, Sam Harper
# Determinants of Increased Opioid-Related Mortality in the United States and Canada, 1990–2013: A Systematic Review
American Journal of Public Health - June 12, 2014
In 2010, the 11th consecutive year in which drug overdose deaths increased, 75% of all pharmaceutical overdose deaths involved opioids, and prescription opioids were involved in 16 651 deaths in the United States, a more than 4-fold increase since 1999.

Luisa Romano
# La riforma della normativa di contrasto agli stupefacenti: osservazioni sulla legge 16 maggio 2014, n. 79. Ovvero tra novità, conferme e "sviste"
www.penalecontemporaneo.it/ 29 Maggio 2014

1. Introduzione. - 2. L'art. 73, co. 5, del d.P.R. n. 309 del 1990: ancora una modifica. - 3. Il restyling dell'art. 75 del d.P.R. n. 309 del 1990: la non punibilità "dell'uso personale". - 4. segue: Il restyling dell'art. 75 del d.P.R. n. 309 del 1990: in particolare, il nuovo comma 1-bis. - 5. segue: Il restyling dell'art. 75 del d.P.R. n. 309 del 1990: riflessi sull'art. 75-bis. - 6. Un paio di modifiche "non innovative". - 7. La sorte degli atti amministrativi adottati sulla base della legge cd. "Fini-Giovanardi".

Osservatorio europeo delle droghe e delle tossicodipendenze (EMCDDA)
# Relazione europea sulla droga. Tendenze e sviluppi
28.05.2014

Tra i carcerati si segnalano tassi di consumo di stupefacenti complessivamente più alti di quelli riscontrati tra la popolazione generale e modelli di consumo più dannosi; studi recenti indicano infatti che una percentuale di detenuti compresa tra il 5 % e il 31 % ha assunto stupefacenti per via parenterale almeno in un’occasione. Con l’ingresso in carcere, la maggior parte dei consumatori riduce o interrompe il consumo di stupefacenti; non è raro tuttavia che le sostanze illecite riescano a entrare nelle prigioni, cosicché alcuni carcerati continuano o cominciano a consumare droghe durante il periodo di detenzione.

Fabrizio Ricci (ed) | Regione Umbria
# La droga in Umbria. Saggi, inchieste, interviste
www.regione.umbria.it/ 2014
Così muoiono gli emarginati e i tossicodipendenti di lunga data. Ma il discorso non finisce qui. Di droga muoiono anche gli “insospettabili”. Persone “normalissime”, che conducono vite altrettanto normali o addirittura di successo. Muoiono gli imprenditori, gli operai, i professionisti e persino i cantanti famosi, gli attori, le star. Nelle vene c’è sempre la stessa roba: eroina, cocaina, psicofarmaci. Ma certe volte si fa fatica ad associare queste morti, inattese e in certi casi clamorose, morti che fanno notizia, a quelle dei poveracci che si ritrovano per strada o sotto qualche ponte. Eppure, tutti allo stesso modo vanno ad alimentare le statistiche. Anche in questo caso la morte è una livella.

C Chérrez-Bermejo, R Alás-Brun
# Consumo de sustancias y trastornos de salud mental en agresores de violencia de género ingresados en prisión. Un estudio descriptivo
Rev Esp Sanid Penit 2014; 16: 29-37
Estudio descriptivo sobre una muestra de 106 varones ingresados en prisión por violencia de género. Estimación de porcentajes de consumo perjudicial de sustancias y de diagnósticos psiquiátricos al ingreso en prisión con uso de la historia clínica informatizada del Servicio Navarro de Salud. Resultados: el 61’3% realizan un consumo perjudicial de sustancias. El porcentaje es mayor que en otros estudios realizados sobre poblaciones de agresores denunciados y detenidos. Las sustancias mayormente implicadas son alcohol y cocaína...

Isabelle Giraudon, Guillermo Mena, João Matias, Julian Vicente | European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
# Emergency health consequences of cocaine use in Europe. A review of the monitoring of drug-related acute emergencies in 30 European countries
www.emcdda.europa.eu/ April 2014
The use and seizures of cocaine have increased during the last decade, particularly in some countries, and cocaine is now the second most used illicit drug in Europe, after cannabis. However, levels of use differ widely between countries, and there is a noticeable diversity among cocaine  users, both in patterns of use and sociodemographic characteristics, which complicate an assessment of the prevalence of the drug’s use, its health and social consequences, and the necessary responses.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - CDC Washington
# Examining the Growing Problems of Prescription Drug and Heroin Abuse
www.cdc.gov/ April 29, 2014
One of the reasons we are gathered here today is our shared concern over reports that heroin use and overdoses are increasing. This is true; the number of persons meeting criteria for heroin abuse or dependence more than doubled from 2007 to 2012. Some states, cities, and counties from across the country have reported recent increases in heroin-related deaths, including Maryland, Kentucky, and New York City. This increase in deaths is alarming. However, opioid abuse/dependence is still approximately four times greater than heroin abuse/dependence. In 2012, more than two million people reported opioid abuse/dependence-approximately the population of Houston-compared to about 467,000 people reporting heroin use.

Mattick RP, Breen C, Kimber J, Davoli M
# Buprenorphine maintenance versus placebo or methadone maintenance for opioid dependence (Review)
www.bibliotecacochrane.com/ The Cochrane Collaboration and published in The Cochrane Library 2014, Issue 2
Buprenorphine is an effective medication in the maintenance treatment of heroin dependence, retaining people in treatment at any dose above 2 mg, and suppressing illicit opioid use (at doses 16 mg or greater) based on placebo-controlled trials. However, compared to methadone, buprenorphine retains fewer people when doses are flexibly delivered and at low fixed doses. If fixed medium or high doses are used, buprenorphine and methadone appear no different in effectiveness (retention in treatment and suppression of illicit opioid use); however, fixed doses are rarely used in clinical practice so the flexible dose results are more relevant to patient care. Methadone is superior to buprenorphine in retaining people in treatment, and methadone equally suppresses illicit opioid use

Monica Bawor, Brittany B Dennis, Rebecca Anglin, Meir Steiner, Lehana Thabane, Zainab Samaan
# Sex differences in outcomes of methadone maintenance treatment for opioid addiction: a systematic review protocol
Systematic Reviews 2014, 3:45
Use of methadone for the treatment of opioid addiction is an effective harm-reduction approach, although variability in treatment outcomes among individuals has been reported. Men and women with opioid addiction have been known to differ in factors such as opioid use patterns and characteristics at treatment entry; however, little has been reported about differences in methadone treatment outcomes between men and women. Therefore, we present a protocol for a systematic review which aims to provide a summary of existing literature on sex differences in outcomes of methadone treatment for opioid addiction.

Adam Miller
# Powerful psychotropic drug used in Canada’s federal prisons
The Canadian Press, April 14, 2014
Canada’s prison watchdog has launched an investigation into the prescribing practices in federal prisons, after it was revealed that more than 60 per cent of female inmates across the country are receiving psychiatric medication. A joint investigation by The Canadian Press and CBC has learned that in August 2013, of 591 female federal inmates in five correctional institutions, 370 were being prescribed at least one psychotropic medication, drugs that impact mood and behaviour

# Government of Canada | Correctional Service of Canada, New Approval Criteria for Quetiapine, Feb 07 2011

Joseph A. Messina
# Report of a Fully Integrated Outpatient Program for the Treatment of Co-Occurring Substance and Mental Health Disorders
http://www2.leg.state.vt.us/ 2014
Patient data collected in this study revealed a cooccurring disorders rate of 62.6%. The primary substance use diagnoses reported in this study were alcohol, opioid, cocaine and marijuana dependence ranked in that order. The primary mental health diagnoses were affective and anxiety disorders which is consistent with data from other outpatient substance use programs. Many patients had comorbid psychiatric disorders and required more than one psychiatric medication. Over the course of this 12 month study,  39.7% of the patients who started the program maintained abstinence and completed the program regardless  of primary substance.

Francesco Sanna
# Detenuti tossicodipendenti? Italia al top per la spesa... ma i dati sono sbagliati!
Il Fatto Quotidiano, 2 aprile 2014

In Italia "i piani di azione sulla droga non hanno associato budget", "non ci sono recensioni sulle spese esecutive" e "le stime per le spese correlate al tema sono molto limitate". Ma soprattutto "uno studio recente (il Report annuale 2011 del Dipartimento antidroga) che mirava a stimare i costi sociali del consumo di droga, ha incluso la stima della spesa pubblica, ma non ha dettagliato la metodologia utilizzata".

Nature Neuroscience - Editorial
# High time for advancing marijuana research
Nature Neuroscience volume 17 | number 4 | April 2014
Marijuana use is expected to increase as its legalization spreads. With more marijuana users, we should prioritize research on this pervasive, but relatively understudied, drug... As the use of marijuana appears to be headed toward wide acceptance in the United States, it is urgent that we support a comprehensive research program addressing the critical gaps in our understanding. If the harmful aspects of marijuana use outweigh the therapeutic benefits, we need to find out now, not far in the future. If there are components of cannabis with specific therapeutic value, we need to develop drugs that target them. Ultimately, we need data and hard facts in hand to responsibly regulate  the use of marijuana and educate consumers about their choices.

Carla Rossi
# Valutazione dell’efficacia degli interventi di repressione e del mercato
Presentazione di Lifestyles and history of use of drug users in four EU countries: exploratory analysis of survey data, di Roberto Ricci e Carla Rossi (Ed. UniversItalia) - 24 marzo 2014

Francesco Viganò
# Droga: il governo corre ai ripari con un d.l. sulle tabelle, ma la frittata è fatta (e nuovi guai si profilano all'orizzonte...)
www.penalecontemporaneo.it/ 24 Marzo 2014

Decreto-legge 20 marzo 2014, n. 36
# Disposizioni urgenti in materia di disciplina degli stupefacenti e sostanze psicotrope, prevenzione, cura e riabilitazione dei relativi stati di tossicodipendenza, di cui al decreto del Presidente della Repubblica 9 ottobre 1990, n. 309, nonché di impiego di medicinali meno onerosi da parte del Servizio sanitario nazionale.
(Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 67 del 21-3-2014) - Vigente al: 21-3-2014

Mario Centorrino, Pietro David e Ferdinando Ofria
# Effetto cannabis sui conti pubblici
www.lavoce.info/ 21.03.14
La legalizzazione del mercato delle droghe leggere determinerebbe benefici netti consistenti per le casse dello Stato. Non solo per il maggior gettito. Una volta divenute legali, queste attività entrerebbero nel Pil, contribuendo a migliorare gli indicatori di stabilità del nostro paese.

Sherrica Tai, William E. Fantegrossi
# Synthetic Cannabinoids: Pharmacology, Behavioral Effects, and Abuse Potential
Curr Addict Rep, March 2014
Across the United States, commercial preparations of synthetic cannabinoids (SCBs) (eg, labeled “K2” or “Spice”) have gainedmuch attention among drug users and lawmakers. According to a 2012 survey, SCBs are the second-most commonly used illegal drug among young adults, with only cannabis use occurring at a higher rate. In a 3-year product surveillance study in our state, 26 individual SCBs were detected in commercial products...

Laetitia Clavreul, Pascale Santi
# Alcoolisme : feu vert officiel à la prescription de baclofène
Le Monde, 5 mar 2014
L’addiction à l’alcool concerne environ 2 millions de personnes en France et causerait 45 000 décès par an. Le baclofène agit notamment sur le « craving », l’envie irrésistible de boire. C’est le médecin Olivier Ameisen, décédé en 2013, qui a expérimenté sur lui-même le baclofène, qui l’a guéri. La publication de ses travaux, en 2004, était passée inaperçue. Pas son livre, Le Dernier Verre (Denoël), paru en 2008. Des alcooliques l’essayent, deviennent indifférents à l’alcool, et relatent sur Internet leurs expériences. De plus en plus de médecins le prescrivent. D’autres restent sceptiques, voire critiques. Pas la panacée...

# Sandrine Blanchard, Sandrine Cabut, Catherine Vincent, Olivier Ameisen, l'apôtre du Baclofène, Le Monde.fr | 19.07.2013

# Sandrine Cabut, Alcoolisme:le baclofène au banc d’essai, Le Monde, Samedi 31 mars 2012

Eric Holder | Department of Justice
# Attorney General Holder Urges Changes in Federal Sentencing Guidelines to Reserve Harshest Penalties for Most Serious Drug Traffickers
www.justice.gov/ Thursday, March 13, 2014

... Reduce the average sentence by 11 months, or nearly 18%, according to the Commission. As an added result of the new proposal, the Commission projects that the Bureau of Prisons population would drop by 6,550 inmates at the end of five years.

# Matt Apuzzo, Holder Endorses Proposal to Reduce Drug Sentences in Latest Sign of Shift, www.nytimes.com/ March 13, 2014

Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri | Dipartimento Politiche Antidroga
# La valutazione nel lungo periodo dell'andamento dei consumi di sostanze stupefacenti in Italia | # Grafici
www.politicheantidroga.it/ Marzo 2014
Il documento evidenzia un dato preoccupante e cioè la riduzione degli investimenti in ambito preventivo che è stata rilevata a livello delle varie regioni dove si è avuta una diminuzione del 56,3% dei finanziamenti dedicati alla prevenzione universale dal 2011 al 2012 e dell' 33,1% nelle prevenzione selettiva sempre in riferimento allo stesso periodo. Così come riportato anche nell'ultima Relazione al Parlamento su base dati regionali. Inoltre nell'analisi dei consumi del lungo periodo sono stati messi in evidenza i dati"hard" e cioè quelli derivanti da varie indagini scientifiche anche di tipo laboratoristico e non solo da questionari.

Corte Costituzionale

# Sentenza n. 32/2014 - Deposito del 25/02/2014

www.cortecostituzionale.it/

Francesco Viganò
# Depositata la sentenza della Corte costituzionale sulla disciplina Fini-Giovanardi in materia di stupefacenti
www.penalecontemporaneo.it/ 26 febbraio 2014

# Quadro storico del testo dell'art. 73 del D.P.R. 9 ottobre 1990, n. 309
www.penalecontemporaneo.it 26 febbraio 2014

# Can David Nutt wean us off the demon drink with his alcohol substitute?
www.theguardian.com/ 27 February 2014

# Sam Wong, Synthetic alcohol substitute could eliminate health risks – and hangovers, http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/ 12 November 2013

Luis Royuela, Linda Montanari, Miriam Rosa, Julian Vicente European | Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)
# Drug use in prison: assessment report. Reviewing tools for monitoring illicit drug use in prison populations in Europe
www.emcdda.europa.eu/ February 2014

According to the latest available data on the prison population, on 1 September 2010 there were an estimated 635 000 prison inmates in EU Member States. Most prisoners are from poor communities and vulnerable social groups, with the proportion who are immigrants or from minority ethnic backgrounds on the increase. Drug users form a large part of the overall prison population. Studies show that a majority of prisoners have used illicit drugs at some point in their life, and many have chronic and problematic drug use patterns.

Benoît Gomis
# Illicit Drugs and International Security: Towards UNGASS 2016
www.chathamhouse.org/ International Security | February 2014
According to estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the global illicit drugs market has an annual value of $320 billion, making it the third largest market in the world after oil and arms... The international drug trade causes numerous fatalities worldwide every year. In 2011, UNODC estimated the number of deaths related to illicit drugs use to be 211,000...

Simona Pichini, Roberta Pacifici (eds) | ISS
# SmartDrugs (terza edizione)
www.iss.it/ 2011, 2014

Christian Hopfer
# Community, Siblings, Heritability and the Risk for Drug Abuse
Am J Psychiatry 171:2, February 2014

The major findings of the study are that drug abuse is substantially heritable in both males (55%) and females (73%) and that shared environmental factors were present in males but not in females. Socioeconomic status and neighborhood deprivation both predicted drug abuse, and a substantial portion of the shared environmental influence on drug abuse was a community-wide, not household, influence.