Substance Abuse: A Pandemic within a Pandemic
During the year since the start of the pandemic, cocaine use in Greece appears to have hit a record high for the decade, while use of antidepressants in March 2021 was double that of the same month in 2019. This new data was revealed for the first time during the Wednesday, April 21 SNF DIALOGUES event, “Substance Abuse: A Pandemic within a Pandemic.”
New data was shared publicly for the first time and analyzed during the SNF DIALOGUES webcast by National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) Professor of Analytical Chemistry Nikos Thomaidis. Thomaidis gathered the data through chemical analysis of sewage in Attica at the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at NKUA.
Sociologist and Research Director of KETHEA (the Therapy Center for Dependent Individuals) Gerasimos Papanastasatos offered interpretation of the data, discussing its social implications.
The SNF DIALOGUES discussions are held through journalism nonprofit iMEdD (the incubator for Media Education and Development) and curated by Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou.