Awareness about cocaine's ecocide in Colombia
Cocaine use rise alarms advisers
Written by BBC Tuesday, 09 March 2010 12:38
Drug advisers are to review the effects of cocaine, amid concerns youngsters increasingly take it in the mistaken belief it is "relatively safe".
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs says the five-fold increase in the proportion of users since 1996 is "deeply concerning".
Its head, Prof Les Iversen, told Home Secretary Alan Johnson the drug should remain Class A and was "very harmful".
He took over as chairman after Mr Johnson sacked Professor David Nutt.
The cocaine review is one of the council's first new undertakings since Prof Iversen took over as chairman.
His letter quotes the latest British Crime Survey statistics which suggest 6.6% of 16 to 24-year-olds use cocaine, in comparison with 1.3% in 1996.
Use among those aged 16 to 59 increased from 0.6% to 3% during the same period.
"Cocaine is a very harmful drug to individuals and more broadly society, and evidence of the continued increasing prevalence of cocaine use is deeply concerning," Professor Iversen wrote.
The average purity of seized cocaine had been steadily falling to 15.5% between April and June 2009, he said.
