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The UK has 327,466 hardcore "problem drug users" who are regularly using either heroin, crack or cocaine, research revealed yesterday. The figure is far higher than a previous estimate of 270,000. Britons are also spending a total of UKP5.9bn a year on illegal drugs, about two-fifths of the amount spent on alcohol and a third of the size of the legal tobacco market, according to Home Office estimates. The figures are a sign that the government's policy of concentrating on reducing the harm caused by the most serious drug abusers has yet to make headway. This evidence that the drugs problem in Britain is deepening comes as the European Drugs Agency published research showing that the street price of illicit drugs fell by up to 50% across Europe, including in Britain, and most drugs are now probably cheaper than ever before. "There are signs in some countries that ecstasy and cocaine are cheaper today than in the late 1980s and early 1990s," says the annual report from the European monitoring centre on drugs and drug addiction. The finding, coupled with renewed evidence that Britain remains near the top of the European table for both cocaine and cannabis abuse, suggests that despite record seizures the "war on drugs" is having little effect in curbing their supply. According to the European monitoring centre, cocaine use in Britain doubled between 1998 and 2001 and it is now the second most popular drug. But its use has stabilised with the latest published 2003-4 figures showing that 6.5% of all adults admitted they had used cocaine in the previous 12 months. Of the 29 countries surveyed across Europe only Spain comes close in levels of cocaine use, but unpublished data is expected to show that the problem is escalating in Italy and France. Spending by Britons on cocaine has now risen to nearly UKP1bn a year with cocaine prices averaging UKP64 a gram in 2004. In some parts of the country dealers have adopted "loss leader" tactics, selling cocaine for UKP28 to UKP44 a gram initially - half of what it was a decade ago. The European study shows that efforts in the Netherlands and northern Spain to curb cocaine imports from South America have paid off, with record amounts seized. But the traffickers have responded by opening up new routes. More optimistically, the EU drugs agency said yesterday it was interested in the development of a "cocaine vaccine" by a British pharmaceutical company, Xenova, which could neutralise the cocaine high by preventing it reaching the brain. TA-CD is undergoing a second phase of clinical trials and could be available within three years. The initial tests showed it could enable a group of cocaine addicts to remain drug free for three months with no untoward side effects. Cannabis culture also remains strong in Britain, with the latest official figures showing that 29% of all adults said they had tried some in the last year. Cannabis use is only higher in Denmark. Home Office estimates showed that Britons spend more than UKP1bn a year on cannabis, with 412 tonnes a year consumed at an average of UKP4 a gram. The European study says there are now worrying signs that people in their 30s and 40s in Britain are continuing to use cannabis and that it is no longer something most people try only when they are young. Carel Edwards, the EU commission's senior official on drugs policy, said in Brussels that the findings showed that "after 50 years of a moral, international crusade to reduce the drugs problem the results are not exactly brilliant ... whatever we are seizing is not hitting the market". The EU drug agency said its first ever analysis of street drug prices based on data from 29 European countries - the 25 EU countries plus Romania, Bulgaria, Norway and Turkey - showed that average prices adjusted for inflation had fallen in most countries and for most substances, with the price of ecstasy down 47%, heroin by 45%, cocaine by 22% and cannabis by 19%. This sustained fall in real drug prices coupled with evidence of growing global production suggests that the attempts to disrupt the traffic of drugs into Britain and Europe is proving ineffective despite increasing amounts being seized. Wolfgang Gotz, the European monitoring centre director, said the latest figures showed that the Afghans were "producing heroin like hell" with the most recent opium crop, which supplies 89% of Europe's heroin, reaching a bumper harvest of 4,100 tonnes in 2005. "The global supply for heroin is now exceeding global demand." The EU was studying the implications of the fall in drug prices to see if they did reflect changes in supply or demand. He said heroin use and drug injecting remained at the heart of the European drug problem and while the long-term trend was an overall decline the use of heroin remained a big public health issue. There were worrying signs that the long-term downward trend in drug-related deaths may be faltering, with a 3% rise reported between 2000 and 2003. Note: The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction report is at www.emcdda.europa.eu |
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