TY - JOUR
T1 - A matter of life and death
T2 - substance-caused and substance-related fatalities in Ibiza in 2015
AU - Santacroce, Rita
AU - Ruiz Bennasar, Claudia
AU - Sancho Jaraiz, Juan Ramon
AU - Fiori, Federica
AU - Sarchione, Fabiola
AU - Angelini, Federica
AU - Catalano, Gabriella
AU - Carenti, Maria Luisa
AU - Corkery, John Martin
AU - Schifano, Fabrizio
AU - di Giannantonio, Massimo
AU - Martinotti, Giovanni
N1 - This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Rita Santacroce, et al, 'A matter of life and death: substance-caused and substance-related fatalities in Ibiza in 2015', Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical & Experimental, Vol. 32 (3), e2592, May 2017, which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1002/hup.2592. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
The Accepted Manuscript is under embargo. Embargo end date: 18 May 2018.
PY - 2017/6/28
Y1 - 2017/6/28
N2 - Objectives and methods: In the framework of the EU-funded project “EU-Madness,” we collected and analysed all the reports of fatalities directly or indirectly related to substances of abuse registered in Ibiza from January to September 2015, in order to analyse the characteristics of the sample, the identified substances, and the nature of deaths associated with their consumption. Results: A significant increase of substance-caused deaths with respect to the previous 4 years has been highlighted. Most of the subjects were young males, more than half were not Spanish. Males prevailed also amongst the victims of traffic accidents and suicides. The most commonly involved substances included MDMA, alcohol, cocaine, THC, opiates and prescription drugs. Conclusions: Although the use of NPS is rapidly increasing in Europe, according to the results from our sample, alcohol and well-known stimulants (MDMA and cocaine) are still the substances of abuse mainly involved in the cases of substance-caused and substance-related fatalities. The significant increase of fatalities in Ibiza in the last 5 years is an issue that must be taken into account and should be better investigated, as other theories besides NPS-increased diffusion should be proposed, and therefore, targeted prevention strategies should be designed.
AB - Objectives and methods: In the framework of the EU-funded project “EU-Madness,” we collected and analysed all the reports of fatalities directly or indirectly related to substances of abuse registered in Ibiza from January to September 2015, in order to analyse the characteristics of the sample, the identified substances, and the nature of deaths associated with their consumption. Results: A significant increase of substance-caused deaths with respect to the previous 4 years has been highlighted. Most of the subjects were young males, more than half were not Spanish. Males prevailed also amongst the victims of traffic accidents and suicides. The most commonly involved substances included MDMA, alcohol, cocaine, THC, opiates and prescription drugs. Conclusions: Although the use of NPS is rapidly increasing in Europe, according to the results from our sample, alcohol and well-known stimulants (MDMA and cocaine) are still the substances of abuse mainly involved in the cases of substance-caused and substance-related fatalities. The significant increase of fatalities in Ibiza in the last 5 years is an issue that must be taken into account and should be better investigated, as other theories besides NPS-increased diffusion should be proposed, and therefore, targeted prevention strategies should be designed.
KW - alcohol
KW - cocaine
KW - drug-related deaths
KW - fatalities
KW - novel psychoactive substances
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019870501&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/hup.2592
DO - 10.1002/hup.2592
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85019870501
SN - 0885-6222
VL - 32
JO - Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
JF - Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
IS - 3
M1 - e2592
ER -