Middle classes regain taste for class-A drugs

Purer cocaine and stronger ecstasy drives a surge in use of illicit substances among the well-to-do

BETTER quality cocaine and stronger ecstasy tablets are contributing to a rise in drug use among the wealthy middle classes, figures have suggested.

Over the past decade, drug use has fallen significantly according to the an- nual Crime Survey of England and Wales.

Figures published by the Home Office yesterday suggested the group bucking that trend are the professional middle classes with household incomes in excess of £50,000 a year.

It comes as statistics from the Health and Social Care Information Centre showed that the number of deaths from illicit drug use was at its highest level since 1993.

The number of hospital admissions for drug-related poisoning was also up 57 per cent on the previous decade.

The figures for people from lower in- come households suggested that their use of the Class A drugs was down, year on year.

But for people aged between 16 and 59 and with a household income higher than £50,000, three per cent admitted taking cocaine over the past 12 months – up from 2.2 per cent the previous year, a rise of more than a third.

And in the same group, 2.2 per cent admitted taking MDMA or ecstasy – up from 1.5 per cent in 2014, a rise of almost a half.

This comes despite a high profile campaign by the police to warn the middle classes that they were being targeted in the war on drugs. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, recently said affluent people who in- dulged in cocaine use at home were fuelling the £1 billion market in deadly drugs.

He also suggested that employers should consider introducing regular drug testing as a condition of employment.

Experts believe the warnings have done little to deter the middle classes, who have been tempted into taking drugs because of an improvement in quality.

Niamh Eastwood, executive director of the charity Release, said: “We know from experience that legislation does not have a significant impact on drug use, but this is particularly the case for middle class users who often get their narcotics from friends or trusted suppliers and then take them in the safety of their own home. “In previous years, use fell because the quality of the drugs was poor, but recently the purity of cocaine and the strength of ecstasy has improved has improved, so well-off professionals, who perhaps used to take drugs in the 1990s, have returned to the marketplace.”

Almost 40 per cent of adults who took part in the survey said they believed it would be easy for them to get hold of drugs within 24 hours if they wanted them.

However, the figures did show that drug use among women had fallen to its lowest level in more than 20-years.

‘Well-off professionals, who perhaps used to take drugs in the 1990s have returned to the marketplace’