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SNF DIALOGUES Webcast: Substance Abuse: A Pandemic within a Pandemic - Wednesday, April 21 at 18;30 (EET)

Watch the SNF DIALOGUES Webacast at snfdialogue.org 

For more information, visit the SNF DIALOGUES website at snfdialogues.org 

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts have observed troubling signs of a second, growing pandemic: a sharp rise in the use of certain narcotic substances.

The chemical analysis of sewage in Attica during Greece’s second lockdown revealed an 80% increase above the previous year in the use of cocaine, compared to the previous year, while there was also a large increase in the use of anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants. The World Health Organization and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) have expressed deep concern about the increased use of substances, including alcohol, during the pandemic and the rise in substance abuse, by older adults.

With these disturbing trends as a backdrop, the next SNF DIALOGUES discussion will tackle issues of substance use and addiction during the pandemic. The event will explore the ways in which isolation and lack of social contact can correlate with substance abuse, as well as factors that contribute to drug use. Who are the people behind those data and why do we perennially have difficulty recognizing substance abuse and addiction as problems that touch every part of society?

With the help of experts, DIALOGUES speakers will discuss the worrying implications of a complex phenomenon that seems to be intensifying during the pandemic and will ask questions that are too often considered taboo.

The DIALOGUES are curated and moderated by Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou.

*The opinions expressed by DIALOGUES participants, whether representing officially institutions and organizations or themselves, are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) or iMEdD. Speakers’ remarks are made freely, without prior guidance or intervention from the team.

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