Prevalence of opiate use among young men in Italy, 1980 and 1982

An epidemiological study on opiate use among young men undergoing examination for army draft was carried out in 1980 and 1982. The following six cities and surrounding provinces were selected for the study: Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Rome and Turin. There were 15,266 respondents in 1980 and 15,874 in 1982. For each respondent, a urine sample was tested for the presence of opiates and a questionnaire on demographic and socio-economic variables was completed. The study revealed 247 opiate cases with a prevalence rate of 1,618 per 100,000 in 1980, and 339 opiate cases with a prevalence rate of 2,136 per 100,000 in 1982. The number of opiate cases and demographic and socio-economic characteristics of respondents varied greatly from province to province. The group of unemployed respondents had significantly higher prevalence rates than the other occupational groups. A methodology was used that made it possible to estimate the number of opiate abuse cases that did not come to the attention of the authorities. On the basis of the study it was estimated that there were 68,000 opiate users in 1980 and 92,000 in 1982 in the entire country.