A dispatch published on the Avvenire newspaper’s website states that Vaia signed the activation of level 3 alert, the highest level, where he establishes a ‘reinforcement of prevention and protection measures about pharmaceutical preparations based on Fentanyl and its derivatives’.

The objective, the document notes, is to ‘minimize the risk of these drugs leaving the healthcare system and being sold in the endless weeds of drugs’.

These provisions note that ‘what is happening in the United States is frightening’, concerning deaths caused by the use of fentanyl as a drug, and stresses that ‘it has recently become the leading cause of overdoses’ in that country, which it describes as a ‘national emergency’.

“Although the spread of fentanyl in Europe is relatively limited, this substance still represents a potential threat capable of significantly affecting European health and safety shortly.

In November last year, the prosecutor’s office of the city of Piacenza dismantled a network trafficking fentanyl from the United States, which circulates in various forms, in patches, tablets and even in liquid form, and many doses can be obtained in small quantities of the drug intended for sale.

In its warning call, Vaia urges ‘all hospitals to increase the level of protection of pharmaceutical preparations containing fentanyl to prevent possible illicit theft of these drugs’, and recommends ensuring the availability of naloxone, as an antidote against overdoses.

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