The collaboration between Italy and the US in combating the spread of fentanyl is further strengthened with the delivery of the recently approved National Prevention Plan against the misuse of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids and presented by Undersecretary of the Presidency of the Council Alfredo Mantovano in the hands of Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State.

The Italian government will include the issue of countering drugs in the framework of activities of the Italian G7 presidency. "The meeting with Secretary Blinken and the other interlocutors have great importance," said Undersecretary Mantovano, "because the fight against drugs cannot be conducted only at the national level, since drug trafficking has a dangerously global dimension."

The same view was expressed by Anthony Blinken, who took the opportunity to thank Italy not only for its commitment to preventing fentanyl abuse but also in the G7.

Collaboration, the one between Rome and Washington, which had already been extensively initiated during the visit of Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi last July, when he met with U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. During the bilateral talks, in fact, among the topics of discussion was precisely the countering of international terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking, with particular reference to investigative exchanges between the respective police forces and the worrying phenomenon of the spread of Fentanyl in the US.