Cocaine Use in the UK Just As High As in US

[motorhead]

UK: Cocaine Use in the UK Just As High As in US
(01 Mar 2006) Edinburgh Evening News United Kingdom
THE level of cocaine use in the UK is as high as in the US, a new report on international drug use has suggested.

The International Narcotics Control Board's ( INCB ) annual report said two per cent of the UK's population used cocaine.

The report also found the UK had one of Europe's highest rates of cannabis use, alongside the Czech Republic, France, Ireland and Switzerland, in 2005.

INCB chief Professor Hamid Ghodse said downgrading cannabis had been a mistake.

In 2005, British authorities seized more heroin than any other European country, the report also said.

Prof Ghodse said methamphetamine, a drug said to be gaining sway in dance culture, was emerging as the biggest drug problem across the world.

"If I want to pick on one major drug problem pandemic today, it is methamphetamine," he said.

"It has not yet affected that much of Western European countries and the UK but, as drug misuse occurs in North America sooner or later it gets here."

"Methamphetamine is today's problem drug. We think that it is extremely worrying."

The INCB's annual report also suggested governments should screen all incoming and outgoing mail in an effort to stop "drugs by post" scams.