Drug info - UK Cocaine Use Doubled Since 1998

[Bladerunner]

Source: This Is London

Cocaine use among middle-classes has doubled during Blair years

A massive surge in cocaine abuse by Britain's young middle classes is driving a continuing rise in Class A drug use, latest Home Office figures reveal.
The proportion of adults who regularly snort cocaine has doubled since Labour came to power - making a nonsense of Tony Blair's anti-drugs crusade.

An estimated half a million people take the 'hardest' Class A drugs over the past year of whom 376,000 take cocaine, around 2.4 per cent of the adult population compared with 1.2 per cent in 1998.

Experts believe that plummeting street prices which have brought the once-glamorous drug within the reach of the masses, with a line of coke costing just £2.50 in some parts of the UK - less than a glass of wine or a pint of beer.

Cocaine is now the second most popular illegal drug behind cannabis, which is used by almost one in ten adults. The figures are much worse for the 16 to 24 age group, where a quarter of people admit using an illegal drug over the past year and six per cent have snorted cocaine. But Class A drug use is also shown to have more than doubled among those aged 35 to 44, with those living in areas of 'urban prosperity' who frequently visit pubs and clubs mainly driving the increase.

The figure are revealed in data from the British Crime Survey based on interviews and questionnaires, meaning only those prepared to admit to having a drug habit are included, and under-16s are not included.
The data shows that around two million Britons admit taking illegal drugs each month.

Home Office officials claim the rise in cocaine use has stabilised since 2000, but concede that it is still on the rise in the 35 to 44 age group.
Those who regularly go to nightclubs, wine bars and pubs are more likely to use cocaine, and in a sign of falling prices use is also higher among the unemployed than those in regular work.

Critics claim the figures show Tony Blair's anti-drugs strategy, which was launched in 1998 amid great fanfare, has failed. Tough targets for cutting hard drug use were published and a 'Drugs Tsar' appointed, but the targets were quietly dropped and former police chief Keith Hellawell was sidelined from his position and not replaced.

[SPWIM]

I wonder whether the bulk of it is people getting their friends involved, or is it actually whole new groups of people turning to cocaine?

[Bladerunner]

Probably both mate. Seems to me there's a lot of 35 - 45 year olds who are taking part. All children of the baby-boom generation.....?

[SPWIM]

SWIM can only really vouch for his own age group but there's a lot of people my age doing it regularly where he lives. By my age group I'm talking 18-26.

[JJ]

SWIM knows a few people in the 18-24 age group who regularly use, and not hard to get either.. the falling prices don't help either.

[waldo_one22]

1)This is due to the Cartels of South America focusing on Europe as the US is saturated with the stuff.

2)Also most of the users in this bracket were the kids of yester-years original rave scene of the 80's,90's.......who are basically bored of Ecstasy and just wanna have a few drinks and a few lines,as they are a little older but not necessarily wiser!!!!

[Bladerunner]

Originally Posted by waldo_one22

1)This is due to the Cartels of South America focusing on Europe as the US is saturated with the stuff.

2)Also most of the users in this bracket were the kids of yester-years original rave scene of the 80's,90's.......who are basically bored of Ecstasy and just wanna have a few drinks and a few lines,as they are a little older but not necessarily wiser!!!!

Yeah I think you're right there also it seems there are a few more people with bigger disposable incomes. Remember what Robin Williams said about cocaine.....?

[Fantasian]

SWIF thinks the current 18-25 generation are very open to coke, SWIF's personal favourite is MDMA but most of his friends prefer cocaine.

[Danc9552003]

Originally Posted by Fantasian

SWIF thinks the current 18-25 generation are very open to coke, SWIF's personal favourite is MDMA but most of his friends prefer cocaine.

SWIM thinks this is very true, but he always finds it so great that people find a nice, strong dose of mdma to be a persons favorite. It's sad that people will take ecstasy that are REALLY bad pills probably with no mdma at all in them, and never want to try pills again. Sorry for being off topic

[waldo_one22]

SWIM thinks this is very true, but he always finds it so great that people find a nice, strong dose of mdma to be a persons favorite. It's sad that people will take ecstasy that are REALLY bad pills probably with no mdma at all in them, and never want to try pills again. Sorry for being off topic
__________________

Agreed!!!!!.........back in the 'Day' in the early days of Londons Rave scene you could buy a pill in a club and not be worried wether is was gonna be good or shit.Swim never came across any shit ones,for a long time.This is in the day when they were XXX and all doves.

swim nice clean does of mdma is great and does beat cocaine but it does'nt suit swim anymore to be fucked up for days on end.

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