Class A is ‘more accessible than ever’ with youngsters enticed by ‘bargain bucket’ deals on social media that can see them score in just five minutes
- For further information on on cocaine rehabilitation, visit Rehabs Uk’s website
Cocaine is becoming ‘more accessible than ever’ with young people claiming they can pick up a bag in less than five minutes.
It comes amid fears Brits are turning to cocaine as their poison of choice during the cost-of-living crisis, with one expert for many it represented ‘very good value for money’ with dealers advertising ‘deals’ on social media.
Pub-goers in London, Cardiff and Newcastle told the MailOnline they were finding Charlie easier than ever to find, with dealers advertising ‘bargain bucket deals’ online and on social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram.
The UK is now considered the cocaine capital of Europe and is believed to snort around around 117 tonnes of the substance per year, with the market for the illegal drug estimated to be worth more than £25.7million a day.
Cocaine was once seen as the drugs of rockstars and high-flying businessmen, but this image is now rapidly changing, thanks to the price of a little bag of white powder continuing to drop each year, making it anything up to 80 per cent cheaper than when it first gained its mass appeal in the 1980s.
Craig, a 30-year-old male teacher from Cardiff whose name has bee changed to protect his identity, admitted he’s been regurarly using cocaine for more than five years. he said: ‘If I’m on a night out with mates I’ll do a few lines. my friends take it, some of them are teachers.
I’ll play Rugby on a Saturday and I’ve taken it in the changing room after a game. It’s accessible, cheap and social.
‘I’ve been going out in Cardiff since I was 16, you never saw people using coke then but it’s commonplace now. All ages, all walks of life, it’s part of your night out.’
The white powder remains the UK’s most utilized drug after Cannabis in 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics, remaining especially popular with young adults aged 16-24, whilst also seeing a huge explosion in the number of middle-aged Brits using the party drug.
In Camden, one female student said: ‘It is so common in London and has gone down in price, you can get a gram for £60. When you go to a house party it is less common for people to not do it than to do it.
‘If I am staying up really late on a night clubbing, I need it to make It through the night. It is really good for endurance.’
Another of the second-year art students from south London added: ‘People need it to stay up late and socialise.
‘It is definitely on the up there’s lots of cocaine around these days. It’s the only drug you can really do in pubs.
‘At this point you feel left out if you don’t do cocaine on a night out.’
Ian Hamilton, associate professor of addiction at the University of York, says cocaine is one of the few products in modern society that represent ‘good value for money’ during the current cost-of-living crisis and has lead to cocaine usage being ‘ubiquitous’.
Ian told the MailOnline: ‘Cocaine use is ubiquitous now, really. I think at one time it’s seen as a an aspirational drug. It was associated with people who had quite a bit of disposable income. But what’s changed over the last decade is the price of cocaine has come down relative to income, and at the same time the potency or strength of cocaine has gone up.
‘So if you like, bizarre as it sounds in a cost of living crisis. You’ve got a drug that actually represents very good value for money. Which, of course, is bucking the trend of most other things as prices go up on utilities and and things that people rely on just to get by.’
The more affordable cost of taking cocaine has allowed a wider range of people are able to partake in the activity, allowing savvy dealers offering deals of three half grams for £100 or five grams for £210.
Young people say they are not only being offered these deals via the traditional text or out in the pub, but on a variety of social media channels.
Jenna Fulton, 20, a Geography student at Newcastle University said: ‘It’s easy to find if you want it. It’s typically the posh students that come up here from London who have a reputation for taking it.
‘Drug dealers advertise it online, you can DM them on Instagram. People can get it dropped off at their accommodation.’
Josh Shaw, 19, from York, says he has been offered cocaine while walking to a club.
The Agriculture and Business Management student at Newcastle University said: “Someone stopped me on the street in between my student accommodation and going out in town asking me if I wanted any.
A 23-year-old law student at Newcastle University added: ‘It’s quite popular amongst young people. Definitely between the ages of 18-35.
‘It’s popular in pubs and clubs. I’ve seen people advertise selling it on Snapchat. I know a lot of people who do it all the time.’
Many who spoke to the MailOnline agreed cocaine usage had now become accepted as part of the modern British night-out, and not just an activity for festivals or other big social events.
Tim, a 34-year-old restaurant owner in Cardiff, said: ‘Cocaine has become part of a night out – it’s as common as alcohol.
‘No one thinks anything of it, it’s so commonplace that people don’t think for a moment they’re breaking the law.’
One man, 42, who works as an executive chef in Newcastle, agreed and said: ‘We would always have it before we went out. We had the idea that it wouldn’t be a good night without it.’
Antoine, private members’ club worker, explained that he has seen a dramatic increase in cocaine use in his job: ‘I work in an environment where I see it all the time. The drug is big time on the up.
‘I don’t partake in it myself, but I think that it is getting worse in quality over the years.’
Pub toilets in England and Wales are regularly littered with the small sandwich bags and traces of the white powder, leading many venues to crack down on the issue with added security measures.
Ramos, 50, a bartender at the Bucks Head pub in Camden, said: ‘We find bags and traces of powder all the time in the bathroom.
‘We even had a guy the other day drop a bag right in front of us on the pub floor.’
Another worker at another nearby pub, who asked to remain anonymous, said the venue has had to seriously increase security to deal with the problem.
She said: ‘Anyone caught with cocaine here is banned for life.
‘We only hire security that have photographic memories these days so they always remember a face. We search everyone’s bags on the way in now, which we never used to do.
‘We have had to double security everywhere and have people checking the bathrooms every 50 minutes. We are really cracking down on it.’
However, this has lead many to become dependent on Charlie as part of their night out, with
Many who spoke to the MailOnline raised concerns about what it is they were actually taking when purchasing cocaine.
A Computer Science student at Northumbria University, 22, said: ‘A lot of students don’t seem to understand that one bad batch or one overdose can have consequences.
‘I know that people take cocaine. Often when people start fights in bars it’s because they’ve taken cocaine and are drinking alcohol.
‘The cocaine that is sold also isn’t 100 percent cocaine, sometimes it’s cut with other stuff.’
Ian also had concerns about the strength of the drug people are currently taking, especially if they are introduced to it for the first time.
Cocaine also killed a record number of people last year, with deaths having soared 80-fold over the last three decades.
Whilst many people still associate the party drug with a younger audience, statistcs show more than a fifth (21.4 per cent) of all cocaine-related deaths were among the over-50s, the highest proportion ever recorded. Two victims were over the age of 70.
Deaths from cocaine hit 857 last year, up on the 840 logged in 2021 and a five-fold increase on the 169 a decade ago. Rehabs UK claim 75% of the people that called their helpline were either worried about their cocaine usage or seeking treatment for their addiction.
Professor Hamilton said: ‘We need to stress how strong cocaine is compared to how it was even 10 years ago.
‘So the the concern for me is people who are naïve or who haven’t used cocaine before they they could well get caught out. And it’s not necessarily just about you know. Obviously the most extreme thing is death. But you can overdose quite quickly on cocaine, which means you pass out and can affect your heart rate, and so on, and your breathing, and particularly when used in combination with alcohol. Ii think that’s where the highest risk is for people.’
For those concerned about theirs or a friend/family members’ cocaine usage, Ian recommends talking to a GP as a first port of call: ‘I think the you know, as always, the first port of call is your Gp. Because your Gp. Is kind of a gatekeeper to the specialist drug treatment services. I think it’s still really important that people try to get help and try to get treatment.’
For further information on on cocaine rehabilitation, Rehabs UK has plenty of information about cocaine rehab, what happens in rehab and how to detox safely.
