I have periodically commented on here about the prevalence of drugs locally and the picture nationally and globally - see for example my posts from a year ago this month.
New figures show that the number of drug deaths in Britain is among highest in the world. Illegal substances killed 2,278 people in a year, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It ranks Britain sixth in the world, with only the US, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Iran and Mexico having more.
Most of these deaths were caused by opioids, such as heroin, followed by sedatives, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants and ecstasy. The report also warned that, while drug use across the world remained stable, ‘demand soared for substances not under international control’ – so called legal highs. It added: ‘These markets continue to evolve and every year new products are manufactured to supply an increasingly diversified demand for psychoactive substances.’
The figures are from the year 2008 and the UN says drug deaths are recorded differently in different countries. The British deaths are among a population of 61 million and compare to 1,638 deaths in Spain, which has a population of 46 million, 1,449 in Germany (population 81 million) and 484 in Italy (population 60 million). The US, home to 308 million people, had 38,396 drug related deaths. Britain, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Spain and Germany account for 80 per cent of all drug related deaths in Europe, the report shows.
Crime prevention minister Baroness Angela Browning said in the year to March officials seized 1,951 kg of cocaine or crack, 473 kg of heroin, and 1,012 kg of other class A drugs. ‘This report demonstrates the need for a renewed focus in dealing with the global drugs market to properly protect our communities,’ she added. Michael Linnell, from the drug and alcohol charity Lifeline, said he had seen a ‘dramatic’ fall in the number of young people taking heroin. He added: ‘Most of the people who are heroin addicts are in middle age and have been taking the drug for many years which takes its toll on their health and kills them. ‘But by far the biggest problem we face is from alcohol, both from the number of deaths and the impact it has on society.’
http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/WDR2011/World_Drug_Report_2011_ebook.pdf
In April The Guardian reported that the Government's expert drug advisers were to publish their first significant review of the harms caused by cocaine use this week to counter the "increasingly common" idea that it is a relatively safe drug. The increasing popularity of cocaine use among young adults in recent years has put Britain at the top of the European "league table" for cocaine abuse – a position it has held for six out of the last seven years.
Cocaine is the second most popular drug in Britain, after cannabis, with its use increasing markedly in the past decade from 0.6% of 16 to 59 year olds reporting use to the British Crime Survey to 2.4% in 2009-10. This is equivalent to nearly 800,000 people reporting that they have used it within the last year. Among those aged 16 to 24, the increase in use has been even sharper from 1.3% to 5.5% in 2009-10 – or about 367,000 teenagers and young adults.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) wanted to launch its review of cocaine last year but was delayed by requests for advice from the home secretary, Theresa May, on banning the new generation of designer drugs or "legal highs" such as spice and mephedrone. The drug council chairman, Professor Les Iversen, recently wrote to the May telling her: "The ACMD has previously indicated that it would initiate a review of cocaine and that this review would be focused on the nature of the trade, its prevalence in the UK and the harms of the drug – not classification issues. "As you are aware, the substantial work the ACMD has undertaken on the legal highs agenda has prevented it from having resource to initiate this review, however, the ACMD is now in a position to start this with immediate effect." Iversen, who took over from Prof David Nutt after he was sacked, said that he was firmly of the view that cocaine is, and should remain, a class A drug. He said that the council has never looked at cocaine as a single substance in its 40 year history and the review was needed to reinforce public health work to reduce its harmful effects. It would tackle "the need to disabuse the misapprehension that cocaine is a relatively safe drug".
The decision to prioritise the cocaine review means that a similar investigation into the use of Qat, requested by the home secretary in February, is likely to be delayed. Qat is a leafy green plant whose leaves are chewed and used as a stimulant principally among Britain's Somali community. The drug advisers are also finalising their official advice on the wider implications of the emergence of the "legal highs" phenomenon and make further recommendations for tackling suppliers and reducing market demand.
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