PAPA' TI LEGGE (Dad reads you)

According to the United Nations’ World drug report 2021, “drug use killed almost half a million people in 2019, while drug use disorders resulted in 18 million years of healthy life lost, mostly due to opioids. In 2020, around 275 million people have used drugs, up by 22% from 2010.” Therapeutic communities (TCs) for addictions, methadone maintenance therapy or detox programs are examples of answers to the problem of drug addiction. TCs aim at the change toward a drug-free life in the outside society. Overall, around 2500 facilities using TC-type interventions were identified in 2011 across Europe, of which 708 in Italy. San Patrignano is an Italian long-term drug recovery residential community, considered among the largest and most successful worldwide. 26000 people hosted since 1978, more than 4000 years of prison converted in rehabilitation programs. These photos are part of an ongoing project started in 2021 on the personal, didactic and rehabilitative journey of the residents. Since 2021, I spent at least 2 days per month with residents who work in the kennels, one of the 35 activity areas of the community. At every moment they face their own limits, fears, fragility. For the first year, letters represent the only contact with the outside. There are often human relations to be reconstructed, or, at least, to be understood. Writing a letter means finding the courage to be true, reading our thoughts, accepting our and others' weaknesses, breaking free.