U.K. cocaine use shoots up

Cocaine use shot up in the U.K. between 2003 and 2008 with women and Londoners at the forefront of the increase. The study by the North West Public Health Observatory at Liverpool John Moores University found that the proportion of people aged between 16 and 59 who had used cocaine at least once in their lifetime rose from 55.7 per 1,000 in 2002/3 to 72.5 per 1,000 in 2007/8. The price of cocaine fell from $100 per gram in the 1980s to $40-60 per gram now. London was described as the epicentre of cocaine use wih 47,000 users. In 2003 8.2% of men had used cocaine compared to only 4.6% of women but by 2006 the gap had narrowed with 7.2% of men having tried the drug compared to 6.6% of women.

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