MIDDLE CLASS HABIT THAT LEADS TO CRIME, VIOLENCE AND DESTRUCTION

It comes in from South America to west Africa, then via Spain,
Portugal or the Netherlands and into Britain through the Channel
ports. Cocaine's journey ends on the streets of cities such as London,
Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool and Birmingham, where a wrap of
high-purity coke can be bought for UKP 50 a gram and more heavily
adulterated varieties for as little as UKP 30.

The vast majority of consumers will give little thought to the long
line of destruction that leads to the short line of powder in front of
them. Mindful of this, Colombia has even tried shaming Europe's
cocaine users into desisting by highlighting the trade's civilian
casualties and rainforest destruction.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency estimates that 35 to 45 tonnes of
cocaine enter the UK each year, supplying both the powder market and
what police and drug experts label the "problematic" users - those who
are addicted to crack cocaine, which is available for as little as UKP
15 a rock.

Around 1 million people in Britain use cocaine, the second highest
level in Europe after Spain. Strategies for tackling the growth in the
trade will be thrashed out tomorrow when a two-day UN conference on
the global drugs crisis starts in Vienna.

Most of the cocaine on the UK market is controlled by British groups
operating in Spain. Increasingly, however, Colombian gangs are based
in Britain, where they run the supply of drugs to dealers.

West Africa is a growing hub, but the traditional trail into the UK,
via the Caribbean, still brings cocaine eastwards on yachts or via air
couriers.

British traffickers traditionally operate in Spain and the
Netherlands, where they will buy the cocaine alongside other drugs.
Traffickers will vary their routes, use coded communications and
conceal their drugs in ingenious ways to import into Britain. Often a
middleman is used to drive drugs into the UK, where they are recovered
by the buyer.

In Britain the trade is estimated to be worth between UKP 4bn and UKP
6.6bn a year. The Home Office estimates there are 300 large-scale drug
importers, 3,000 wholesalers and 70,000 street dealers.

Profits from the drugs trade are used in other criminal enterprises.
Cocaine traffickers will often import guns as well, partly to provide
their own protection and also to sell to other criminals lower down
the pecking order.

The consumption of crack cocaine - which is imported as cocaine powder
and produced in the UK - was once confined to urban areas, but is now
being seen across the country. The links between drug use and crime
are clearly established. With crack addiction comes acquisitive crime
- - street attacks, robberies, burglaries - all carried out to fund a
habit.

At the most violent level shootings, kidnappings and knifings are
carried out by dealers to protect their stash or move in on a rival's
patch. At times members of the public are caught in the crossfire,
sometimes with fatal results.