Rise in cocaine and ecstasy leads to record number of Brits taking Class A drugs last year
A RECORD number of Brits took Class A drugs last year, figures show.
This was mainly due to a rise in cocaine and ecstasy use, say experts.
Home Office stats showed a total of 3.7 per cent of 16 to 59-year-olds reported taking the most dangerous drugs in 2018/19.
That is up from 3.5 per cent the year before and the highest rate since records began in 1996.
It equates to around 1.3million people, according to the data based on findings from the Crime Survey of England and Wales.
Class A use was also on the up among millennials — 16 to 24-year-olds — the findings said, adding: “This is mainly driven by an increase in powder cocaine and ecstasy use.”
Overall drug use also increased.
Roughly one in 11 adults aged 16 to 59 had taken an illicit substance in the last year.
This proportion (9.4 per cent) equates to around 3.2 million people, up from 9 per cent recorded in 2017/18, and 8.3 per cent in 2015/16.
Although this is still lower than the 11.2 per cent measured in 1996 when records began.
End Of The Line
Cocaine use is reaching epidemic levels in Britain, with the UK branded the ‘Coke capital’ of Europe.
Use has doubled in the last five years, and with young people the numbers are even worse.
A staggering one in five 16-to-24-year-olds have taken cocaine in the last year.
That’s why The Sun has launched its End Of The Line campaign, calling for more awareness around the drug.
Cocaine use can cause mental health problems such as anxiety and paranoia, while doctors have linked the rise in cheap, potent coke to an increase in suicide rates.
People from all walks of life, from builders and labourers to celebrities like Jeremy McConnell – who is backing our campaign – have fallen foul of its lure.
It’s an issue that is sweeping the UK and, unless its tackled now, means a mental health crisis is imminent.
Prof Ian Hamilton, a senior lecturer in addiction and mental health at the University of York, told The Sun Online: "It is clear that the Governments aim of reducing access to drugs like cocaine has failed spectacularly as not only are more young people accessing the drug they are saying it is getting easier to get hold of.
"This is really worrying given the increasing strength of the drug and the record numbers overdosing having used it.
"Unless there is a radical change in drug policy we will see new records set for cocaine related deaths."
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The data also found the number of people taking drugs in their late 20s rose by almost three per cent amid a rise in the use of cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine.
The survey said the use of drugs between 25 to 29-year-olds rose from 13.5 per cent in 2017/18 to 16.4 per cent in 2018/19.
The Sun's End Of The Line campaign calls for more awareness around cocaine and the mental health problems it causes.
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