How Did Britain Get Hooked on Cocaine?
Cocaine’s Appeal
For years cocaine has been a drug used exclusively by the rich and famous. In its early days, the price of cocaine was so high that the middle and working classes simply could not afford to get addicted.
However, the Government’s advisory council for the misuse of drugs (ACMD) has stated that a decline in the price of cocaine has meant that it is now more widely available to people from all backgrounds, often with serious and troubling consequences.
Cut cocaine brings the price down
This increase could be in part due to cheaper, cut cocaine finding its way onto UK markets over the past decade.
It is no secret that many ‘cheaper’ drugs are heavily cut with substances other than the drug itself, some of which are completely unsuitable for human consumption.
Nonetheless, this decline in quality has not stopped many new users from taking the drug regularly.
Rise in popularity
Statistics show that around 1 in 10 people aged 16-59 are now taking the drug, whilst 2.4% of the UK adult population are consuming cocaine regularly.
This figure puts cocaine use just below cannabis as the second most used drug in the UK, making the problems created by cheaper cut versions even more serious.
The ACMD has also spoken widely about the ‘two-tier market’ that appears to be prevalent within British cocaine sales.
Whilst purer cocaine can come in at around £100 per gram, cheaper and often more widely available stuff comes in at as little as £40 per gram.
Heavily cut with dangerous chemicals
Cocaine that is cut more heavily has been found to only contain about 10% of the drug, whilst the rest is substituted with dangerous chemicals, sugars and anaesthetics that can be fatal if consumed regularly.
Although the availability has gone up over the past two decades, the quality has most certainly gone down. This decrease in purity is not only dangerous for one time uses but becomes even more harmful for those who have a cocaine addiction.
The celebrity glamour that surrounds the use of purer cocaine is still there but the health risks are greater, due to the poor quality of this incredibly addictive drug.
The painful reality of cocaine
For too long, cocaine has been portrayed as a classy, high-end drug by the celebrities and well-to-do socialites that use it. Unfortunately, the reality is painfully different.
Cocaine is and always has been a highly addictive substance and this addiction is not glamorous, but instead detrimental to both physical and mental health and ultimately, life-destroying.
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