More young adults in Britain than anywhere else in
Europe took cocaine in 2018, as availability hits unprecedented levels across the continent, according to the EU drugs agency.
A report on the latest trends in illicit drug use suggests that 5.3% of people aged between 15 and 34 in the UK took cocaine in 2018, the most recent year for which records are available. About half of Europe’s 15,000 crack-related treatment demands have been reported by the UK authorities.
The second highest proportion of cocaine users in 2018 was recorded by Denmark and the Netherlands, where 3.9% of young adults had taken the drug in the 12 months previous to being asked about their habits.
Alexis Goosdeel, the director of the European Monitoring Centre for
Drugs and Drug Addiction, said cocaine’s role in Europe’s drug problem was increasing just as Europe was heading into an economic recession.
The purity of cocaine sold on the streets is higher than ever. The number of seizures in the EU reached the highest levels ever recorded, with more than 110,000 reported in 2018, amounting to 181 tonnes, suggesting an “unprecedented level” of availability. “It is a perfect storm we want to avoid,” Goosdeel said.
