Cocaine use is rising again after ten years of decline

THERE are worrying signs that cocaine use is on the rise again in the UK after a decade of decline.

A report by the EU’s drug monitoring agency said residues found in Britain’s sewers is a sign that the popularity of the class A drug is returning.

An increase in the numbers of seizures from smugglers and high prices also indicate a rise in use.

Chemical analysis of waste– water in major cities has become a recognised method of measuring drug consumption.

Scientists measure volumes of benzoylecgonine, a chemical produced in the liver during cocaine use which is then excreted. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said levels of this residue found in London sewers rose by around a fifth between 2014 and 2016.

Its report said: ‘ Data from wastewater monitoring and on seizures, price and purity suggest that the availability of cocaine may be rising again in parts of Europe.

‘Both the number of seizures and the quantity seized increased between 2014 and 2015. Cocaine use is higher in western and southern European countries, reflected in ports of entry and trafficking routes.’

The analysis also discovered higher levels of the cocaine residue at weekends.

Levels of drug abuse have been declining since 2008 but young Britons remain Europe’s heaviest users of cocaine. Around 4 per cent of those aged between 15 and 34 are thought to have used the drug in England and Wales in 2015, against 3 per cent in Spain, the country with the second-heaviest use.

The report from the EU agency said: ‘Cocaine is the most prevalent stimulant in the UK and the second most prevalent drug overall in Britain.’