Italy : upsurge in the consumption of drugs in the workplace

“The plant is no longer a community, a place with an identity. Young workers still share the same working conditions, but it is easier for them to get together to sniff cocaine rather than campaign against the boss”, observes the survey published recently by the communist daily Il Manifesto which pulls the alarm signal on the increased presence of drugs in factories, especially the rocketing consumption of cocaine. The survey conducted on the sites of Sevel Atessa, Fiat Melfi, Ilva Taranto and Ferrari Maranello is based on the replies of workers, union delegates, the police, social and health workers. Its author, the journalist Loris Campetti, asserts that in these four factories drug consumption is increasing in proportion to the drop in the average age of workers and the growing fragmentation of production processes which makes harder the supervision and intervention of union delegates. According to his sources, the drug abuse allegedly concerns between 40% and 50% of the young workforce with peaks of 50% in the Sevel of Atessa plant. But this latter figure is contested by a secretary of the regional branch of the Fiom, who accuses the author of exaggerating the actual situation to the point of defamation.
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growing fragmentation of production processes which makes harder the supervision and intervention of union delegates. According to his sources, the drug abuse allegedly concerns between 40% and 50% of the young workforce with peaks of 50% in the Sevel of Atessa plant. But this latter figure is contested by a secretary of the regional branch of the Fiom, who accuses the author of exaggerating the actual situation to the point of defamation.

Drug consumption at work. Emilio Rebecchi, psychiatris

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