Collaborative Efforts in Caserta to Combat Substance Abuse among Youths

As part of the activities planned by the inter-institutional Program Agreement that the Addiction Department of Asl Caserta, led by Dr. Lilia Nuzzolo, has recently signed, among others, with the "Rotary Club Caserta Terra di Lavoro 1954", aimed at implementing effective prevention programs throughout the territory, on March 19th, the first meeting with the students of the middle school of the comprehensive institute "Ruggiero" in Caserta took place, with the participation of the school principal, Vincenza Della Valle, the president of the Rotary, Vincenzo Iorio, the managing psychologist of the Addiction service of Capua - S. Maria Capua Vetere, Dr. Giovanni Di Martino, the former chief prosecutor of the Military Court of Naples, Lucio Molinari, the former president of the Court of Torre Annunziata, Oscar Bobbio. A second meeting will take place on April 11th at the "Manzoni" high school in Caserta. The purpose is to increase students' awareness of the risks arising from the consumption of tobacco and alcohol (also with new alcoholic beverages like energy drinks, alcopops and with the phenomenon of binge drinking, often together with psychoactive substances taken increasingly earlier), generally underestimated in terms of the physical and psychological damage they can cause because they are "legal" and subject to the phenomenon of "normalization". It is essential to know that such consumptions can lead to real additive disorders (alcohol use disorder, tobacco use disorder), which require medium to long term treatment paths, characterized by frequent relapses, and that can facilitate the entry into the world of illegal psychoactive substances. The reflection is also centered on the different manifestations of Internet addiction, including gaming disorder (pathological videogaming), which is increasingly spreading among the youth population.