Britain has worse cocaine habit than Colombia

Britain has the worst cocaine habit in Europe, with rates of consumption far higher than Mexico and Colombia, international data show.

Experts warned of an epidemic in its use, fuelled by the UK’s binge drinking culture.

They said the drug was now as easily ordered as a pizza, and as likely to be snorted at a football match as at a pub or wine bar.

Research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that the UK is now second only to Australia for use globally.

The annual figures show 2.7 per cent of adults aged 15 to 64 using the drug in the UK – the highest figure of 27 countries in Europe.

The figure for the UK is higher than in the US and far above levels of consumption in major drug trafficking countries.

In Britain, men were twice as likely as women to take the drug, with 3.6 per cent using it, against 1.6 per cent of women.

Those in the UK were four times as likely as those in Colombia to take cocaine, with a figure of 0.6 per cent and three times as likely as those in Mexico, where the rate is 0.8 per cent.

The UK rates are also more than twice the average of 1.2 per cent across the 38 OECD developed western nations that were analysed, with 1.2 per cent of those in Italy and 1.1 per cent of those in Italy consuming cocaine.

Only Australia exceeds Britain’s cocaine habit, with 4.2 per cent of adults consuming the drug, according to the figures.

Dr Niall Campbell, the lead addiction consultant psychiatrist at the Priory Hospital, Roehampton, said the drug had become increasingly socially acceptable.

He said: “Cocaine use is pretty much an epidemic at the moment. It’s everywhere, it’s not a drug of the moneyed classes anymore, everybody wants it. They’re all fuelling the criminal empire.

“We talk to people at all levels of society. From those on building sites having ‘builder’s coke’, to people paying £5,000 at a time for the pure stuff. If you go to a football match at half time there’s a queue of young men going into the loo to use cocaine.

“Alcohol is the number one reason for admissions to our residential addiction unit, and cocaine and alcohol is the second reason. Cocaine and alcohol always go together – it enables you to drink more.

“It’s just a routine part of a night out. People have a couple of pints, then ring the dealer. It’s as quick to get cocaine as it is to order a pizza.”

Cocaine use fuels A&E visits every day

Experts said the consequences of the drug were being seen in hospitals across the country.

Dr Campbell said: “Every day in A&E someone will come in with an irregular heartbeat caused by cocaine,” he said.

“You get older guys having a meet up with the lads who have a binge on cocaine and they don’t make it. Their hearts can handle it in their 20s or 30s but they can’t as they get old.”

Ian Hamilton, an associate professor of addiction at the University of York, said the drug had become far more available and potent, with the price falling relative to income.

“Cocaine is better value than it’s ever been,” he said. “In the UK £10 to £20 would buy you a reasonable amount of cocaine, enough for a few lines for a night out. That’s the price of a cocktail, or a couple of pints.”

Prof Hamilton said it was now being used by all classes and ages, with use among women catching up with that of men.

He said: “Most people don’t access cocaine through a dealer, it’s through a friend or an acquaintance.”

Some people even use the drug at work in an attempt to increase concentration and energy.

Calls for public health campaign

Prof Hamilton called for a public health campaign to alert people to the risks of the drug, with adverts in public lavatories, wine bars and sports grounds.

As well as a risk of overdosing, the drug can cause heart and respiratory problems, and dependence.

In 2020, a government review of the UK’s £10 billion drugs market found a sharp rise in illegal drug use, particularly among the middle classes.

The review led by Dame Carol Black, a medic, found that four in 10 of those consuming cocaine earned more than £40,000 a year, with a 25 per cent rise in drug use in five years.

Cocaine accounted for a fifth of the total £9.6 billion drugs market, with white men under 30 blamed by the review for the surge.

Cocaine users do not ‘necessarily think they are addicts’

Dame Carol said it was often bought through friends, online or at dinner parties and taken in a “sanitised way” where people did not “necessarily think they were addicts” and were unlikely to know its supply into the UK was dominated by ruthless Albanian gangs.

Since then the Government has commissioned the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, its independent expert advisory body, to conduct a review into the driving forces behind young people’s cocaine use.

Data from the same OECD report – called Health at a Glance – shows that British women are the worst in the developed world for binge drinking, sharing the top of the leader board with Denmark, with men fourth from top.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Our 10-year drug strategy, backed by a record £3 billion of investment, is tackling the supply of illicit drugs whilst building a world class system of treatment for those who abuse drugs to help turn their life around.

“This is a whole-of-government strategy and we are committed to supporting people who suffer from the clutches of addiction and the vulnerable people who are exploited by gangs to fuel their violent trade.”