In the United States, drug assistance programs have always been under attack from different sides and any attempt to implement such policies in recent decades has been halted.
New elected President Joe Biden anticipated since his first statement that we were about to see an epochal change. Now, that change turned into reality. For the first time in the history of the country, the U.S Congress has allocated specific funds for Harm Reduction programs for drug addicts. A historic result fastened by the pandemic, which in the United States has seen an exponential increase in deaths from overdose.
In the United States, drug assistance programs have always been under attack from different sides and any attempt to implement such policies in recent decades has been halted.
Still, U.S President Joe Biden is the first President to set Harm Reduction a priority in the fight against drug addiction.
The American Rescue Act includes $ 30 million for Harm Reduction and although it is a limited amount of money, it brings a symbolic significance for the future. Specifically for a change in the mentality on which the problem has been tackled so far.
From a repressive approach, we see the shift to a supportive one: those who use drugs are not criminalized but helped through rehab.
A line of action that is reflected in other addictions such as nicotine, and it is important for developing solutions for smokers with mental disorders.
In this specific context, the Genesis project, coordinated by prof. Pasquale Caponnetto of the University of Catania will try to help smokers with schizophrenia to quit smoking by giving them support with less harmful alternatives than the conventional cigarette.
Electronic cigarettes in recent years grew in popularity and acceptance among all those smokers looking for safer alternatives.
The safety of these devices improved since their introduction to the market more than ten years ago, so the number of studies examining the effectiveness of these products as less harmful alternatives.
In several studies, prof. Pasquale Caponnetto highlighted how people with schizophrenia are more dependent on nicotine and smoking (up to 60 cigarettes a day) and experience more serious consequences.
Despite the difficulty in framing the reasons for the higher incidence, Caponnetto has shown how the transition to alternative tools, such as electronic cigarettes, represents for these patients a less harmful solution to reduce smoking-related disease and to improve their quality of life.
Progress in reducing the prevalence of smoking in people diagnosed with mental health has been slower over the years than in the general population.
That is due because in people with schizophrenia the psychosocial consequences are higher and lead to greater recidivism. Plus, public health strategies to limit the incidence of smoking among the population are not as effective among people with mental disorders.
President Joe Biden’s decision gives new scenarios that will help drug addicts but also hundreds of millions of smokers that are trying to quit but are not supported by local governments.
