Morning:
13°c
An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
London faces a wave of bus and Tube strikes that could cause chaos for millions of passengers as unions walkout over pay and conditions
More...
Young Britain is cocaine capital of the world with more abuse than U.S. for first time
Last updated at 08:07am on 23.11.07
'Fashionable': Nearly one in 20 young Britons took cocaine last year
The proportion of young Britons who take cocaine is now the highest in the developed world, a report revealed yesterday.
For the first time, the percentage of 15 to 34-year-olds trying the drug has overtaken that in America.
Nearly one in 20 young Britons took cocaine last year, as it replaced cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamines as the most fashionable drug among the young.
The Class A boom brought a fierce warning from the report's researchers that the drug could now be starting to have "a major impact on public health".
The report by a Lisbon-based European drugs monitoring agency signals a landmark in the rise of cocaine abuse.
For decades, Americans have been the chief users of the drug, which has been cheaply and easily available in cities there.
Until the last decade, cocaine was usually seen in Britain as the preserve of pop stars and City traders.
But low prices, an increasing supply and the unpopularity of other drugs has meant that Britain - together with Spain - now has the highest levels of cocaine consumption among the young here.
Figures showed that 4.9 per cent of men and women aged between 15 and 34 used the drug in Britain last year - around 800,000 young people.
In America, the percentage was slightly lower, at 4.8 per cent.
The cocaine consumption of young Britons was at more than twice the European average of 2.4 per cent.
The most alarming figures showed high levels of cocaine abuse among 15 and 16-year-olds. Six per cent of teenagers at or below school-leaving age have tried the drug.
The popularity of cocaine among young people is reflected in its use by celebrities.
Kate Moss was pictured allegedly snorting cocaine - but continued to get lucrative modelling contracts.
And pop singer Amy Winehouse - a one-time heroin user - was recently pictured leaving a show with a white substance in her nostril.
The report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said: "Cocaine is now, after cannabis, the second most commonly used illicit drug."
It added that "socially integrated" cocaine users - those who hold down jobs and live respectable lives - are at a high risk of health problems.
"Many users are also using other substances including alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and stimulants other than cocaine," it read.
"This kind of polydrug consumption can lead to elevated health risks."
The findings come at a time when ministers have been congratulating themselves over a decline in levels of use of cannabis among young people in Britain.
The fall has come despite the confusion and controversy over Labour's decision to downgrade the criminal status of cannabis.
However the report said that the drug - still smoked by a fifth of people under 24 in Britain last year - is increasingly intensively smoked. This, it added, is causing "health concerns".
Mary Brett, of the campaign group Europe Against Drugs, said: "Older teens are turning to cocaine instead of cannabis. Cocaine is cool, it's getting cheap, and cannabis is out of fashion.
"It used to be people in their twenties that used cocaine, but now it is teenagers."
Home Office minister Vernon Coaker promised a new Government drugs strategy next year.
He said: "Drug use in the UK is stabilising. Drug-related crime has fallen by a fifth since 2003, reducing harm to communities, while drug use is at its lowest level in 11 years.
"Tackling the harm caused by drugs is one of the most formidable challenges we face."
Deaths caused by drugs across Europe are no longer falling, the report said.
It found that across the continent there are between 7,000 and 8,000 deaths related to drugs each year, "with no downward trend detectable in the most recent data".
• Middle-aged women who use tranquillisers and then drive are among the greatest drug-using dangers to others, the report said.
"After alcohol, cannabis and benzodiazepines are the psychoactive substances most prevalent among Europe's driving population," it read.
"Cannabis-using drivers are most likely to be young males, while benzidiazepine-using drivers are more likely to be middle-aged and often female."
Analysts said that legally-acquired tranquillisers were still illegal for use before driving.
Reader views (5)
Another example of the results of 10 years of Labour, and still there are more than 30% of people who will vote for them.
- P.Robinson, Northants
Well with Nu Labor's choice for police it is not going to get better!
- Georgie, London
Drug use in this country is out of control, I believe a lack of police resources is to blame. As a former cocaine addict I was always amazed just how easy the drug is both to obtain and use publicly. Every nightclub in the UK has dealers and users. If the police were to carry out random inspections on the premises and arrest and charge everyone in posession, no matter the quantity this could help, but the courts are unable to handle the volume of cases this would bring. After realising I was ingesting a substance that had been carried in the backside of a mule, or passed through their entire digestive system I realised drugs really are bad!
- Jane, London
10 years of Labour rule and everything has gotten worse!
- Brandon Thomas, London UK
Cocaine is everywhere in London in pubs, clubs and the "City". It seems like everyone is using it, I guess people are so stressed and have very little free that feel it is some kind of release. However, I believe the supply needs to hit, not the users, they need to be educated. we need to get very tough on the suppliers, who were reported the other day to be earning record amounts. These people need to be stopped, and the only way to set an example out of one of them.
- John, London
