Pubdate: Thu, 19 Apr 2007
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

COCAINE USE TRIPLES AS ECSTASY LOSES ITS APPEAL

More than 750,000 people take cocaine at least once a year as its 
price falls and ecstasy loses its popularity among clubbers, 
according to a wide-ranging study of drug abuse in Britain.

Official attempts to stem the use of illegal substances have failed, 
with cocaine soaring in popularity and addiction to heroin remaining 
stubbornly high.

The report delivers the bleak warning that Britain has the worst 
levels of drug abuse in Europe and the second highest rate of 
drug-related deaths.

Cocaine use among young people has tripled since the late 1990s to 
more than 750,000 in 2005-06, the study for the new UK Drug Policy 
Commission says. Nearly 5 per cent of people entering drug 
rehabilitation programmes say their main problem is with cocaine, the 
average street price of which has dropped from UKP69 to UKP49 per 
gram during the past six years.

"From being an exclusive drug, used only by the wealthy and some 
dependent drug users, it has now become part of the menu of 
psychoactive substances that young people use to enhance their leisure time.

"It may have come into fashion among these people as ecstasy reduced 
in perceived quality," the report adds.

It says a quarter of people aged 26 to 30 have tried a class-A drug, 
such as heroin, cocaine or ecstasy, at least once in their lives.

The number of heroin users has risen from just 5,000 in 1975 to an 
estimated 281,000 in England and 50,000 in Scotland. It has now 
stabilised at "levels that are very high by international standards".

With about one-fifth of people arrested dependent on heroin, the cost 
of drug-related crime in England and Wales is estimated at more than UKP13bn.

Drug use is now a common experience for people born since 1970, 
although most only try cannabis only a few times with a small 
minority going on to be problematic users of harder drugs. Nearly 
half of young people have experimented with cannabis, with levels of 
use apparently unaffected by its reclassification from a class-B to a 
class-C substance.

The estimated 0.85 per cent of the population with a drug problem is 
twice or more than that in comparable countries such as France (0.4 
per cent) or Germany and the Netherlands (both 0.3 per cent).

The report, written by Professor Peter Reuter, of Maryland University 
in the United States, and Alex Stevens, of the University of Kent, 
says years of government anti-drugs campaigns have only had a minimal 
effect on levels of use.

It finds little evidence that longer jail sentences, more arrests, 
education and treatment have cut the number of addicts or the 
availability of drugs. The number of people jailed for drug-related 
offences rose by 111 per cent between 1994 and 2005 and the average 
length of sentences increased by 29 per cent. Taken together, the 
courts handed out nearly three times as much prison time in 2004 as in 1994.

The Commission is beginning a three-year investigation into drug policy.

In the Commons yesterday, Tony Blair said drug misuse was down 16 per 
cent since 1998 and down 21 per cent among young adults, while 
class-A drug use remained "relatively stable". He added: "We have 
doubled the amount of money for the treatment of people on drugs. I 
appreciate we've still got a very great deal more to do but it simply 
is not the case that we are not making either the investment or the 
changes that are necessary."

The Rising Tide Of Drugs

* One-quarter of those aged 26 to 30 have used a class-A drug at 
least once. The percentage of young people who have used cannabis is 
decreasing, but is as high as 45 per cent. Their use of cocaine has 
tripled since the late 1990s.

* There are an estimated 193,000 recent users of crack, with a large 
overlap with heroin use. There are 281,000 dependent heroin users in 
England and 50,000 in Scotland. Use of LSD, amphetamines and Ecstasy 
is falling.

* There were 1,644 drug-related deaths in the UK in 2005 - the second 
highest in Europe.

* 1.6 per cent of injecting drug users are HIV positive; 42 per cent 
in England and 64 per cent in Scotland are infected with hepatitis C.

* The size of the UK drug market is estimated at more than UKP5bn. 
The cost of drug-related crime is thought to be UKP13bn.

* The number of drug-users jailed rose by 111 per cent between 1994 
and 2005. The average length of sentences increased by 29 per cent - 
it is now 37 months for dealing.

* The price of a gram of heroin dropped from UKP70 in 2000 to UKP54 
in 2005. Some drug dealers report an average weekly profit of up to UKP7,500.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman