The survey is inspired by the observation of repeated clichés, beliefs, preconceptions, emerged in interviews with consumers or drug addicts and during class discussions with students during the implementation of prevention projects. The young people involved are students aged between 14 and 16, still in the compulsory school age range. The contents that emerged prompted the investigation to verify misinformation or false information, as well as attitudes and disposition for use in an age group where “hearsay” can be the main source of information for the construction of attitudes and beliefs, despite the media opportunities to obtain scientific information on the issues in question. It has often been observed that the computerized medium is used to seek confirmation of street convictions using unscientific sites; that subjects who use so-called “light” substances tend to normalize the phenomenon with phrases like: “Everyone uses them, even the big ones”. The research topics concern the perception of danger towards occasional-non-employee consumption; the confusion between therapeutic use and abuse; the cerebral implications of use; the incorrect interpretation of the messages on legalization (generally interpreted as a license to indiscriminate use); the idea that individual freedom authorizes the use of substances; the conviction of their intentions to abstention; the hope of remaining free from use and living in protected environments; the arrangement for use. The answers obtained concerned a sample of 564 students.
Emerging data show that about 8 out of 10 students have a general knowledge of the damage and the
awareness that the consumption of substances is a risky behavior, while in the remaining two out of 10 the openness to use can be seen. A portion between 15% and 25% proves to have knowledge based on the “heard”.
Between the ages of 14 and 16 4 out of 5 youngsters hope for a substance-free future. The openness to use is around 15%; a datum compatible with the surveys on the use of cannabis in the 15-year-olds offered by the Annual Report to Parliament.