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Country overview: Italy

Key statistics on the drug situation in Italy

  Indicator Year (0)   Country
data
EU range  
Min. Max.
Lifetime prevalence of drug use among young adults (15 to 34 years old) cannabis GPS 2008   37.5 % 2.9 % 45.5 % 1
Lifetime prevalence of drug use among all adults (15 to 64 years old) cannabis 2008   32 % 1.5 % 32.5 % 1
Last year prevalence of drug use among young adults (15 to 34 years old) cannabis 2008   20.3 % 0.9 % 21.6 % 1
Last year prevalence of drug use among all adults (15 to 64 years old) cannabis 2008   14.3 % 0.4 % 14.3 % 1
Lifetime prevalence of drug use among young adults (15 to 34 years old) cocaine 2008   7.6 % 0.1 % 13.6 % 1
Lifetime prevalence of drug use among all adults (15 to 64 years old) cocaine 2008   7 % 0.1 % 10.2 % 1
Last year prevalence of drug use among young adults (15 to 34 years old) cocaine 2008   2.9 % 0.1 % 4.8 % 1
Last year prevalence of drug use among all adults (15 to 64 years old) cocaine 2008   2.1 % 0 % 2.7 % 1
Recent school surveys: lifetime prevalence (15 to 16 years old) cannabis EYE 2010 a 12 % 4 % 45 % 2
Recent school surveys: lifetime prevalence (15 to 16 years old) cocaine 2010 a 2 % 1 % 5 % 2
Problem drug use rate per 1 000 population aged 15 to 64 years old PDU 2008   10 0.5 10.1 1
Injecting drug use rate per 1 000 population aged 15 to 64 years old       0.22 15.1 1
Infectious diseases (% infected) HIV INF 2009
11.5 % 0 % 32.5 % 1
Infectious diseases (cases per million) HIV infections newly diagnosed in injecting drug users 2009 b 3.2 0 63.4 5
Infectious diseases (% infected) HCV 2009
58.5 % 22.4 % 90.7 % 1
Infectious diseases (% infected) HBV HBsAg       0.5 % 3.9 % 1
Drug-related deaths DRD 2009   484 6 2 481 3
Drug law offences (as number of reports of offences) DLO 2009   59 918 772 397 620 2
Drug law offences for use/possession 2009   36 731 285 372 230 1
Cannabis drug law offences i 2009 d 61.3 % 24.4 % 91.5 % 4
Number of new clients entering treatment TDI 2009   33 983 21 45 048 3
Number of new clients entering treatment with known primary drug 2009   30 631 0 43 683 3
New clients entering treatment (% opioids of clients with known primary drug) 2009   43.7 % 3.1 % 92.8 % 3
New clients entering treatment (% cocaine of clients with known primary drug) 2009   32.7 % 0 % 56 % 3
New clients entering treatment (% cannabis of clients with known primary drug) 2009   19.7 % 1.9 % 80.2 % 3
Number of all clients entering treatment 2009   54 141 350 139 390 3
Number of all clients entering treatment with known primary drug 2009   49 893 350 133 960 3
All clients entering treatment (% opioids of clients with known primary drug) 2009   55.4 % 10.4 % 97.1 % 3
All clients entering treatment (% cocaine of clients with known primary drug) 2009   27.6 % 0.1 % 46.4 % 3
All clients entering treatment (% cannabis of clients with known primary drug) 2009   14.3 % 0.6 % 69.8 % 3
Syringes provided through needle and syringe programmes HSR       0 4 861 195 1
Number of all clients in substitution treatment 2009   107 892 189 137 541 2
Price in euros per gram cannabis herb ii PPP 2009 f EUR 8.20 EUR 2 EUR 70 5
Price in euros per gram cannabis resin ii 2009 f EUR 10.30 EUR 3 EUR 19 5
Price in euros per gram cocaine ii 2009 f EUR 71.20 EUR 45 EUR 104 5
Price in euros per gram heroin (brown) ii;iv 2009 g EUR 41.40 EUR 23 EUR 135 5
Price in euros 1 tablet XTC ii 2009 f EUR 15.90 EUR 3 EUR 15.90 5
Price in euros per gram amphetamine ii 2009 f EUR 15 EUR 8 EUR 41.80 5
Purity (%) cocaine iii 2009   46.3 % 18 % 51.3 % 5
Purity (%) heroin (brown) iii       12.9 % 37 % 5
Potency (%) cannabis resin iii;v 2009   4.6 % 2.9 % 17.3 % 5
Potency (%) cannabis herb iii 2009   5.9 % 1.3 % 12.4 % 5

Notes

i As percentage of all drug law offences reported.

ii When available, country provides minimum, maximum, mean, median and modal (most frequent) price in euros recorded. This table shows the mean price in euros.

iii When available, country provides minimum, maximum, mean, median and modal (most frequent) purity/potency (percentage). This table shows the mean purity/potency (percentage).

iv The minimum value in the European range refers to the mean price.

v The maximum value in the European range refers to the mean potency.

0 Most recent available data shown. Any data prior to 2005 not shown.

1 2005 to 2009 data.

2 2007 to 2009 data.

3 2008 to 2009 data.

4 2006 to 2009 data.

5 2009 data.

a ESPAD methods are adopted to varying degrees.

b HIV reporting exists in 13 of the 22 Italian regions (Veneto, Piemonte, Friuli Venezia-Giulia,Sassari, Trento, Bolzano, Liguria, Catania, Puglia, Marche, Emilia-Romagna,Valle d'Aosta, Lombardia, Pescara).

c Persons.

d Based on number of mentions of cannabis among all drug mentions, whether alone or with other drugs. Data are calculated on the total excluding the number of persons for whom the substance is unknown.

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Page last updated: Monday, 14 November 2011