Potency and doses of cocaine doubled in the Northeast in 10 years

In the Northeast, the strength and doses of cocaine doubled, and half were found in the province of Venice. This was revealed by Ulss 3 Serenissima, which analyzed 6,300 samples for a study that debuted in the international scientific community on Forensic science international.

The doses are those that from 2015 to 2025 were seized by the police and entrusted by the prosecutors of six courts in Northern Italy. Comparing the first three-year period (2015-2017) with the last one (2023-2025), we went from 300,000 to 600,000 doses seized: half come from traffic in the Venetian hinterland, especially in Mestre, but also in the tourist resorts of Jesolo, Caorle and Bibione.

The average purity of cocaine has risen from 50% to 75%: in the last 5 years, low concentration products (less than 50%) have almost disappeared in favor of high concentration ones (more than 80%). And the availability of this high-potency cocaine has increased by 1000%, going from 27 thousand to 300 thousand doses.

The new formulations with the combination of procaine and caffeine also enhance the drug. Patients have also risen. The Serd went from assisting 259 people with serious cocaine addiction in 2015 to 389 in 2025 (+130). And if 10 years ago the Serd followed 15 patients who abused crack, today there are 45.

"It is a method of intake that amplifies its effects - explains the forensic toxicologist of Ulss 3 Giampietro Frison -. Smoking this substance, rather than taking it intranasally, allows it to enter into circulation more and much faster, therefore the risk of overdose is even higher and a large part of road accidents is associated with driving in a state of psychophysical alteration following the intake of cocaine".

Prolonged use of cocaine can cause sagging of the palate, creating a real hole between the mouth and nose. The maxillofacial surgery at the Angelo hospital in Mestre sees at least one of these cases a year. "Before 10 years ago these forms were rare. In the last 10 years of serious perforations of the palatal vault due to cocaine abuse I will have seen at least a dozen - says head doctor Michele Franzinelli -. Others, even more frequent, are initial perforations and never admitted by patients as a consequence of taking the substance. This happens because cocaine can cause tissue necrosis from vasoconstriction, and often the treatments do not even respond to analgesics and local anesthetic injections".