The Independent
Michael Savage,
Friday, 24 July 2009
Alarmed doctors call for new 'zero tolerance' approach to deal with epidemic in hospitals
The number of cocaine users in Britain has risen by 25 per cent in a year to almost one million, official figures revealed yesterday, prompting calls for the Government to rethink its anti-drugs strategy. About one in 10 people admits having tried the drug – three times as many as 15 years ago. Figures from the British Crime Survey also suggest that about 439,000 cocaine users are in their late teens or early 20s.
The number of children treated in hospital for overdosing on Class A drugs has more than tripled in a decade, says the NHS, with 60 under-18s admitted for acute cocaine poisoning this year, compared with 16 in 1999. According to the College of Emergency Medicine, the admission to hospital of young adults with heart problems caused by cocaine abuse has become almost routine since 2004.
Writing for today's Independent, John Heyworth, the CEM president and a consultant in Southampton, says cocaine has become ubiquitous and "something must be done". He urges the Department of Health to consider taking a "zero tolerance" approach to the drug in an attempt to combat the rising number of young addicts with heart problems. Yesterday's figures confirm for the first time the long-term increase in Class A drug use since Labour came to power. "There was a slight underlying upward trend which is now significant over the long term," the report concedes, just a month after Britain was labelled "Europe's cocaine capital" by the UN.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/cocaine-britain-25-per-cent-rise-in-the-last-year-1759267.html
Michael Savage,
Friday, 24 July 2009
Alarmed doctors call for new 'zero tolerance' approach to deal with epidemic in hospitals
The number of cocaine users in Britain has risen by 25 per cent in a year to almost one million, official figures revealed yesterday, prompting calls for the Government to rethink its anti-drugs strategy. About one in 10 people admits having tried the drug – three times as many as 15 years ago. Figures from the British Crime Survey also suggest that about 439,000 cocaine users are in their late teens or early 20s.
The number of children treated in hospital for overdosing on Class A drugs has more than tripled in a decade, says the NHS, with 60 under-18s admitted for acute cocaine poisoning this year, compared with 16 in 1999. According to the College of Emergency Medicine, the admission to hospital of young adults with heart problems caused by cocaine abuse has become almost routine since 2004.
Writing for today's Independent, John Heyworth, the CEM president and a consultant in Southampton, says cocaine has become ubiquitous and "something must be done". He urges the Department of Health to consider taking a "zero tolerance" approach to the drug in an attempt to combat the rising number of young addicts with heart problems. Yesterday's figures confirm for the first time the long-term increase in Class A drug use since Labour came to power. "There was a slight underlying upward trend which is now significant over the long term," the report concedes, just a month after Britain was labelled "Europe's cocaine capital" by the UN.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/cocaine-britain-25-per-cent-rise-in-the-last-year-1759267.html
