Cocaine and Ecstasy use on the increase among wealthy

COCAINE AND Ecstasy use has jumped among people from wealthier households in England and Wales, new figures indicate.

In 2015/16, three per cent of those aged 16 to 59 from households with incomes of at least £50,000 reported taking powder cocaine in the previous year – up from 2.2 per cent in 2014/15.

The proportion in the category who had used Ecstasy in the preceding 12 months was 2.2 per cent, up from 1.5 per cent. Both were “statistically significant” increases.

By contrast, use of the two Class A drugs among those from lower-income households were either down or flat year-on-year.

A Home Office report outlining the figures said demographic factors are “not necessarily independently associated with higher drug use”.

Meanwhile, it emerged that drug use among women has plunged to the lowest level in at least 20 years.

The statistics – published by the Home Office and based on responses in the Crime Survey for England and Wales – showed one in 20 females, aged between 16 and 59, reported using any illicit substance in the previous year in 2015/16.

This was the lowest level recorded since the current records started in 1996. Drug use among women peaked in 2000 and 2003/4, when it was at 8.8 per cent.

Overall, the figures showed that around one in 12 adults (8.4 per cent) had taken an illicit drug in the previous year – equal to around 2.7 million people.

This was similar to the 2014/15 survey, but lower than a decade ago, when the proportion stood at around one in 10.

“The trend in last year drug use among 16 to 59-year-olds has been flat for seven years,” the report said. Around one in five (18 per cent) young adults, aged 16 to 25, had taken an illicit drug in the last year, more than double that of the wider age group, and equivalent to around 1.1 million people, according to the figures.

This was similar to the previous year, but down compared to a decade ago when the proportion was 25.2 per cent.