“Today is the World Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, with many initiatives, activities and reflections proposed on the topic which is worrying the entire national territory. There are also many experiences in Reggio Calabria that are generating hope and opportunities.” This is underlined by the Italian Sports Center (Csi) of Reggio Calabria, which, at the same time, through its president, Paolo Cicciù, denounces: “In a neighborhood of Reggio Calabria, in Arghilla specifically, the use of cocaine, alcohol and drug dealing is characterizing the growth, future and dreams of many minors in this very fragile area (adolescents and pre-adolescents in particular)”.
“We ask the very attentive prefect Clara Vaccaro, the mayor of the City of Reggio Calabria Giuseppe Falcomatà and the president of the FICT Luciano Squillaci for urgent intervention on multiple fronts. Last night, while accompanying the children of the Polisportiva Arghilla a Colori after their first official match – continues Cicciù – I stopped in the various lots in the Arghilla Nord neighborhood to chat with the older kids who had played with us in the past. Devastating and mortifying to see fifteen-year-olds busy drinking alcohol and with haggard faces with difficulty even speaking. It is not the first situation involving children from the northern area of Reggio. Many alarming situations have characterized this last period with interventions by the Juvenile Court and with situations of petty crime and violence between young people”. “The substance has now become a traveling companion for many kids. For years, we have been trying to hook them up with sport and gaming but, at a certain point, many get lost because they are attracted by the desire for easy money and after the ‘discovery’ of the cocaine and alcohol high they abandon the team and, very often, even ‘life’, letting oneself go into situations and choices that will lead to death – the cry of alarm launched by the president of the CSI Reggio Calabria -. Many kids also end up in the drug dealing scene in Arghilla, known to all as a place where you can easily find the substance. We immediately need a strong and decisive intervention that goes towards prevention but also intervenes on the current situation that involves many young people in the Arghilla area, we immediately need a technical table that will try to stop this situation. Minor addicts and drug dealers is an issue too strong to remain silent and it is another great defeat for all of us, for the institutions and for those who should guarantee rights and make proposals”.
“We are fighting to protect the Modenelle municipal pitch, which for weeks has been flooded with burnt out cars, which are increasing more and more every day. We are trying with sport to implement an educational continuity of the routes, as an alternative to the spot events that have literally mortified this fragile territory! The drama of substance and alcohol use among minors must be stopped immediately”, concludes Cicciù.
