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Parties with drugs and sex. Unlimited screens. Anxiety measured in 'likes'. The new addictions gain strength among the classic ones. 8% of the cases handled by the Madrid City Council, through its network of Drug Addiction Care Centers (CAD), correspond to gambling, the use of psychotropic drugs and various growing phenomena: the abuse of video games and networks social and 'chemsex', sex parties surrounded by drugs that increased with the pandemic. The usual dependencies, however, still rule: 35% of the attentions are due to alcohol, 22,5% to opiates, 21% to cocaine and 13,5% to cannabis.
The addictive balance of the capital resulted in a pass with around 9.200 people in treatment. More than a thousand families and more than 600 patients found work.
Last year, the Addictions Institute, dependent on Madrid Salud, served more than 2.100 adolescents and young people and has more than 1.700 families in its Family Guidance Service and intervened in almost 300 educational centers, reaching a total of 23.200 students and 1.400 teachers. His data shared this Friday by the municipal spokesperson and delegate of the Security and Emergencies Area, Inmaculada Sanz, pending the presentation of the council's new addictions plan for the next four years.
"Classic drugs tend to decrease in their impact on Madrid society and these types of issues related to behavioral addictions, with social networks, with gambling addictions, 'chemsex'" are advancing, "said Sanz, who specified that the objective is that these new addictions "do not spread, especially among young people, who are the most vulnerable in this area." The 2022-2026 municipal strata are based on seven lines (and 22 general objects): prevention, comprehensive care for young people and adolescents, reduction of risks and damage to addictions, comprehensive treatment through the CAD, prevention of gambling addiction and videogames, coordination and networking and supervision and improvement of the plan.
“Drugs are not a game”
Madrid Salud, through its Institute of Addictions, has been dealing with this type of dependency for 30 years. “We are going to continue to fight against all kinds of addictions because it makes life difficult for people, for our young people, and we have to be very aware every day to say that drugs are not a game, that addictions are not a game,” Sanchez confirmed. Neither are the new ones.
The city council has already launched a campaign on the web and social networks to prevent the abusive use of screens, social networks and video games with the hashtag #ThinkDecideControla. The plan also includes the improvement of comprehensive care for dual pathology, the adaptation of interventions aimed at the elderly, the dissemination of services and the reduction of stigma.
