Two recent books have broken the silence on a issue that has so far been disregarded in the history of contemporary Italy: La minaccia stupefacente. Storia politica della droga in Italia by Paolo Nencini (il Mulino, 2017) and Piccola citta. Una storia comune di eroina by Vanessa Roghi (Laterza, 2018). Although by different approaches, both deal with the consumption of drugs and the increase of drug addiction from a historical point of view, as phenomena with significant consequences not only in the private life, but also in the public and social spheres. Starting from a review of these two texts, the author outlines a periodization for the Italian case, highlights the most relevant thematic links, crosses various historical backgrounds and different disciplinary perspectives, in order to sketch new paths of research.
Keywords: Drugs, drug addiction, prohibition, drug trafficking, subcultural deviance, media storytelling