A SNORT CAN RUIN YOUR SEX LIFE

COCAINE use damages fertility in men and women and can make it difficult to start a family.

The little-known health hazard associated with cocaine use is being highlighted in an unusual campaign by the Australian Federal Police, who are using Halloween to “highlight the real horror of illicit drugs use”.

The campaign warns that using cocaine damages men’s ability to produce sperm and disrupts women’s ovulation cycles.

The edgy social media campaign Have a Conscience highlights the dangers of using methamphetamine and heroin but focuses on cocaine, which is wrongly seen as a party drug favoured by Instagram influencers and footballers.

AFP eastern commander of investigations Kirsty Schofield said there was a false perception that cocaine was a safe drug.

“It is time that we end the myth about cocaine. It is a dangerous drug,’’

Commander Schofield said.

“While cocaine use can damage organs, cause nose deformity and potentially bowel gangrene, many people do not realise chronic cocaine use can lower sperm count. In women, it can alter the menstrual cycle and adversely affect ovulation.”

Associate Professor Anusch Yazdami, the medical director of the Queensland Fertility Group, said medical professionals were seeing more clients with drugrelated fertility problems.

He said the demographic taking cocaine tended to be younger people who “saw themselves as invincible’’ and were more focused on contraception than fertility.

However, by the time they reached their 30s, fertility was becoming an issue.