Analytical toxicological study on the behavioral use of not scheduled drugs on hair of a large group of young students: comparison with a self-report survey

Abstract

The Authors present descriptive statistics of the data emerged from the “Toxi-cap” research, a study that involved students aged between 13 and 16 years recruited from the schools of the city of Florence and its Province, and aims to identify the age of onset of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine use, substances which, although not considered drugs, they can still cause serious damage to health, particularly in young people. The novelity of the research reported consistes in the scientific facts. The data relating to the use/abuse of substances referred to above, have been detected not only through the compilation of a questionnaire appropriately drawn up, but also through the drawing, to the sample, of a small strand of hair on which chemical-analytical analyses were performed, suitable for the identification of caffeine, nicotine and its fundamental metabolite (cotinine), ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and FAEE as indicators of alcohol use, shown by validated analytical. The schools were selected through random sampling from the complete list of middle schools and high schools of the city Florence and its Province. 7 Institutes have accepted to a total of 1.209 students involved. Of these, 874 (73,2%) have really partecipated in the research because the parents and the student himself, completely informed about anonymity, have granted their consent. The sample of students was classified by age group (13-14/15-16) and sex (MF). The results, in accordance with the international and national literature, show that the age of onset of the use/abuse of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine is an increasingly early age and they allow to propose preventive strategies for real control of the phenomenon.