Spritz at breakfast for university students: the latest addiction alarm arrives from Ferrara

The alert arrived from Ferrara but the 'letter' is addressed to the whole of Italy because the picture that emerges is alarming: boys and girls, mainly university students in their 20s, regularly consume spirits as early as 9.30 in the morning, before classes start or during teaching breaks. The spritz, a cocktail with a high alcohol content, has become the most popular drink in this time slot, with consumption often not limited to a single glass.

The Osservatorio Dipendenze Patologiche (Pathological Addictions Observatory) of the Ausl of Ferrara records a doubling of young patients (18-29 years old) in the last decade: from 4.7% in 2015 to 9.5% in 2024. European research on adolescent lifestyles reveals that 75% of 15-19 year olds have used alcohol, with the 15-17 age group particularly exposed. "Drinking in the morning hours has immediate consequences on cognitive ability, impairing attention, memory, and school performance," emphasises the Director of the Mohre Observatory (Mediterranean Observatory for Risk Reduction), Johann Rossi Mason. "Regular intake of alcohol at a young age significantly increases the possibility of developing addiction and alcohol-related diseases, increasing the risk of cancer. Of particular concern is the effect of alcohol on a still-developing brain, which in young adults completes its maturation around the age of 25'.

As Emanuele Scafato, WHO consultant and member of the Advisory Board of Sia, the Italian Society of Alcohology, points out, 'ignored alarms and chronic institutional inertia have consolidated normalisation of a phenomenon that places alcohol at the centre of behaviour that is always risky and harmful for young people and minors. It is a grotesque and obvious demonstration of the failure of prevention and of those who should ensure it. It is a vulnus for the protection of the most vulnerable that it is the same main educational agencies, the family and the school, that inoculate society along with the industry's pressure to drink. Society,' adds the expert, 'has lost the ability to informally control and counteract young people's drinking. Spritz, wine or beer or cocktails consumed at any time makes no difference to the risk and consequences involved, but it is worth dwelling on one of the symptoms of addiction that manifests itself with the search for alcohol in the morning. And it is no news that in Italy there are 1.2 million 11-24 year-old consumers at risk, half of whom are minors, and that of all the 780,000 harmful consumers with an alcohol use disorder in need of treatment, only 68,000 manage to be intercepted by the SSN and treated, 93 % remain outside'.

Fabio Beatrice, Mohre's Scientific Director, echoes him: 'A scientific approach involves gradual strategies: correct information on the real risks, promotion of socialising alternatives that do not involve alcohol, psychological support to understand the motivations for this need to 'uninhibit' oneself as early as the morning. It is not a question of prohibition, but of education for conscious choices'.

The Mohre experts emphasise the need for urgent action on several fronts: early identification of risk, combating fake news that suggests drinking is good for you, countering partnerships with producers who, even according to the WHO, are not to be considered partners in health, campaigns to devalue alcohol and raise awareness in schools and universities, reducing aggressive and pervasive marketing in the media and on social networks, and greater 'health literacy' on the part of families. But also more specific professional training for health workers and venue managers, stricter controls and stricter sanctions in public places. The phenomenon requires immediate attention before it becomes established as an accepted social practice, with potentially irreversible consequences for the public health of young people.