Cannabis use has jumped 45% in four years in Italy with one out of three Italians consuming it in the past year, according to a report presented to Parliament on Wednesday.
Based on data from 2005, the report said that 32% of Italians had tried cannabis that year compared to 22% in 2001, while 24.5% of Italian students smoked it in 2005.
The annual report on drug and alcohol use which said that heroin use was stable and the consumption of cocaine rose slightly, while the use of hallucinogenic drugs climbed 2.2% in 2005.
According to the report, the percentage of Italians who consume some illegal substance rose from 14% to 17% from 2001 to 2005.
There were 517 deaths from drug overdoses in 2005, a 20% decline from the previous two-year period, the report said.
Lazio was the Italian region with the highest percentage of cannabis consumer, 10.6%, while Lombardy had the highest percentage for cocaine, 4.7% and Liguria for heroin, 0.7%.
The report also looked at performance-enhancing drugs and found that eight out of 10,000 male students used them and 21% consumed them 20 times or more.
Between 2001 and 2005, the report found, there was a decline in the consumption of alcohol, especially by men, and a 32% drop in cigarette smoking.
Men were smoking 6.6% less, while women were smoking 6.4% more, the report added.
Cocaine use by students in 2005 was limited to 4% and while 1.6% took heroin, while the percentage of youths who consumed alcohol rose from 64.7% in 2000 to 69.7% in 2006.
According to Welfare Minister Paolo Ferrero, who illustrated the report to parliament, the the cost of drugs has declined over the past five years with cocaine dropping from 99 to 83 euros a gram, heroin from 68 euros to 52 euros for regular brown heroin and from 84 euros to 78 euros for white heroin.
The cost to society of drug use in 2006, the minister told parliament, was 10.5 billion euros, equal to 0.7% of Italy's GDP.
The cost was calculated, the minister explained, was calculated 65% for spending by law enforcement, 17% spending by health and social services and 18% by the loss in productivity.
The report also a higher percentage of drub users among the unemployed and school dropouts.
