Fentanyl plan and drug controls

Meloni told the meeting that Italy was the first country in Europe to define a national plan against the misuse of fentanyl and synthetic opioids. She said operators had been trained and antidotes made available, and that the government was now tightening controls on how these substances are kept in hospitals and healthcare facilities so they do not feed illegal markets, where they could turn thousands of people into 'zombies'. Meloni put the national addiction system at more than 210 million euros for 2026 alone, which she described as the largest allocation ever. That money, she said, paid for new public-service staff, support for therapeutic communities and the freedom for people seeking help to choose a treatment programme, even when it is far from home.

“We have trained the operators, made the antidotes available and today we are strengthening controls on the custody of these substances.”

She also described an early-warning system that identifies new substances and consumption patterns before they become an emergency. Meloni recalled offering this model to partners at the United Nations two years earlier. About one month before the meeting, she said, Italy had hosted experts from seven partner nations in Rome together with the European Drugs Agency.

Warnings on cannabis and synthetic drugs

Meloni said today's drugs are more potent, cheaper and easier to obtain, and in some cases socially accepted. Synthetic substances change quickly, she said, and new molecules reach the market with the help of AI before police can detect them and add them to lists of illegal substances. She criticised people who keep calling cannabis derivatives light, saying their THC content is on average 30 times higher than it was a few decades ago.

President Sergio Mattarella, in a message read at the opening, took a broader view. He said the challenge affects public health, social cohesion, security and the quality of democratic life, and that demand for these substances grows out of social hardship, isolation and fear of the future, particularly among young people. He linked drug use to other dependencies, from alcoholism to gambling and digital addiction.

“Countering them with rigour is the duty of every state and of the entire international community.”

Dialogue with networks and the declaration

Meloni said Italy had opened talks with the main networks to correct messages that mislead the public about drugs. She added that prevention comes first among the principles in the final declaration that participants are due to sign.

“We have started a productive dialogue with the main networks to correct misleading messages that we have too often heard in the past.”

San Patrignano and the coalition

The meeting was held at the San Patrignano community on the hills near Rimini. Meloni called the community pioneering and said it showed partners what recovery means. The coalition was launched in Copenhagen in 2025 with 38 European countries, the European Commission and the Council of Europe, and Yerevan was the second meeting, where recent commitments on prevention and recovery were made.

Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, Ireland's state secretary at the health ministry who represents the EU Council presidency, and Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner for internal affairs and migration, were among the speakers. Alfredo Mantovano attended. The initiative focuses on two fronts: combating trafficking, including new-generation synthetic drugs, and prevention, treatment and recovery. Members adopted a founding declaration setting operational priorities, including full application of the 'follow the money' principle to hit drug proceeds.

What comes next

The ministerial meeting is due to close with adoption of a final declaration. Meloni left the community without speaking to reporters, after telling the audience that no young person who seems lost is lost for good.