«What worries us is whether that heroin sample in which we found Fentanyl had “ball buddies”. We feared that there were at least twenty of them around, because whoever made that cut must have made many, but instead there were no other reports.” This is what Andrea Albino, head of the harm reduction services of the Perugia street unit, manages by the Borgorete cooperative on behalf of Umbria’s Local Health Authority 1, says. It is here that on March 29th a consumer brought the dose that had caused him an unexpected reaction. We contacted him thanks to “Lavialibera”, the bimonthly magazine of Libera and the Abele Group which dedicated an important in-depth analysis to the matter.
The person who came to you as did she notice?
He had “tasted it” and told us “it knocked me out straight away,” which a consumer understands well.
But was it smoking heroin?
No, he injected it. She came, as she did periodically, to exchange syringes and sterile material and she told us. But she didn’t know if she “knocked him out” because she was stronger or because there was something more. We analyzed it immediately and then she agreed to have it taken to the laboratory.
What did the news cause among consumers?
There is debate, curiosity, desire to know, to have more information. There are also those who come saying “I want to know who has it because I want to try it”.
Fear?
Even fear but among people who do it in a slightly more cultured way, not among those who in the morning the first thought they have is “I don’t know how to find something because I’m in withdrawal”.
Even knowing the effects it causes Fentanyl?
But there is always public information that is highly distorted. And there are those who only read that he is stronger than heroin. People over 40 who say “I finally find something that shocks me”. Few but they are there.
But the news of the arrival of Fentanyl did it surprise?
The usual ones who take advantage of the wave and want to say that they knew it before. But they are just rumors from the Sert waiting room that are not very real.
Could the dose have come from outside Perugia?
No. When the person consents, we try to trace the origin. He had taken her in the square in Perugia as he always did.
If there are other “balls” why didn’t they have the same effect?
It’s strange because there was still double the heroin than what you’re used to in the square and more Fentanyl. But for now nothing has been found in the Region’s tracing, in the emergency rooms, in 118, in the checks of the police who are trying to lift this carpet.
So is Fentanyl injected? Not only that, some put it not only in heroin but also in cocaine. A little is needed because the intention of those who put it on the market is to trap and make several people dependent, with a substance that costs them less.
How strong is heroin consumption in Perugia? He is strong and always has been. As in the rest of Italy, the consumption of what is injected has dropped somewhat. The drug mafias wanted to capture a younger target by promoting smoked heroin. So here too there are young people who started in groups smoking it with “foils” or pipes. But there is a much more frequent use of mixes. Today’s average consumer, 30-40 years old, doesn’t just consume heroin, alcohol and joints. But also coca and psychotropic drugs. And the lifestyle has changed. There is no longer a heroin user who lives on the margins of society. But also those who use it to lower the effect of stimulants and stimulants. It is an effect no longer sought by the disadvantaged, depressed, problematic but it is a pleasure. There is less talk about it, mortality has been kept somewhat under control, but consumption has not dropped.
But there are still many who have died from overdoses. In the worst times we had more than 40 deaths a year. “Travellers” come to Perugia to buy from many areas of central Italy. And it is convenient for the drug mafias to have a 24-hour market here for a substance that is better than other areas. Now there are many fewer deaths. From 2017 to today we have had 50 but that is more than Milan and Turin.
What worries you most?
Crack. It is a mammoth and destructive consumption in a very short time. And it’s even more submerged. They say “let’s not talk about it if we don’t feel like it”. Many very young immigrants who have left the reception system use it. Among Italians also adults. And also foreign adults, who have failed the integration process. For Fentanyl, however, in the last six months I have finally seen an education and prevention policy implemented. To prepare to handle it if it comes.
