"The most significant data is perhaps not the quantity, 515 patients treated in Lanzarote in treatments against drug dependence in 2012, but that the profile of the new users has changed considerably." This is how the Minister of Social Welfare of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Marci Acuña, manifests himself, who has assured that the new patients no longer consume heroin, but fundamentally cocaine and alcohol. "Very young" people are joining this care network, where they have perceived an increase in the consumption of designer drugs, which is causing "concern".
Acuña has acknowledged on Radio Lanarote-Onda Cero that for Lanzarote "there are quite a few people who have this problem" with drugs and although there has been "some decrease", "very young people are joining the care "resource", being hooked on the consumption of narcotics. "Fortunately, it is one of the problems that we best address on the island of Lanzarote, with utmost professionalism and first-rate care resources," he defended.
One of the groups of patients served by this care network is the one that needs "maintenance programs with methadone". In these cases, most patients are people addicted to heroin for many years, since there are no new users with this problem. "Thanks to methadone, the effects of so many years of consumption on their bodies have been alleviated," explained Acuña.
"Normalized" drugs
The new profile of users is very different. "Of those who join for the first time and come to ask for help, we have observed how cocaine and alcohol are the drugs that generate the greatest demand," said Acuña. On the contrary, heroin, "which was the biggest problem and the reason why this network was created in the Canary Islands, almost has a testimonial position within that demand."
Alcohol and cocaine are "more invisible" drugs than heroin. "Cocaine is like a social leisure drug, more from recreational and normalized environments. Alcohol is a legal drug that is socially accepted," explained Acuña, who has warned that this "cocaine-alcohol" combination is leading many people to require the services of this care network.
Psychiatric consequences
The problem with cocaine and alcohol is that they generate "consequences on personality, possible psychiatric disorders, that heroin did not generate". "We are facing a poly-drug user with serious consequences on his personality, with psychiatric disorders. We have to face this problem from other areas, not only the care one, but from the Mental Health Unit, because the addiction is accompanied by a psychiatric disorder," insisted the councilor of the Cabildo.
Another situation that worries the councilor is the increase in the consumption of designer drugs by "very young" people in Lanzarote. "They are seen in environments of young people, nocturnal, party. It is where designer drugs are incorporated, where these substances circulate," he said.
Designer drugs and their dangerous content
Young people who consume them "do not know the content they have, because they are drugs made in clandestine laboratories, with very addictive and dangerous substances to attract new customers." "Heroin is no longer a business and those who manage this business have to attract new customers, in environments with young people, making these designer drugs available to them," said Acuña.
The problem is that "the psychological affectation" produced by the consumption of these substances is "tremendous". "They make young people do things that they would not do in a normal state. It entails a consequence in their emotional and psychological stability. Dangerously we are observing how this trend in the consumption of designer drugs is increasing in young people," acknowledged the councilor.
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[A total of 515 patients were admitted in Lanzarote for treatment against drug dependence in 2012->77869]
