BRITAIN TOPS DRUG TAKING LEAGUE

One in 20 15 year-olds in Britain has tried cocaine, according to a
new report.

The figure means Britain is at the top of the European league when it
comes to illegal drug use amongst teenagers, says the study.

Five per cent of 15 and 16-year-olds in Britain have dabbled in
cocaine - that's around 75,000 teenagers.

The only other European country to have such a huge cocaine problem
is Spain, where more young people and adults were found to have taken
the drug than anywhere else in the world, including America.

The report was published by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs
and Drug Addiction.

It follows a similar one from the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC).

It showed similar levels of use among teenagers and alsop that three
per cent of youngsters had tried crack cocaine.

It said four per cent of youngsters had taken Ecstasy and almost
three in 10 had tried cannabis.

The World Drug Report 2009 disclosed that cocaine use increased
dramatically in the UK from the mid-1990s, but remained stable over
the past two years.

Dr Sandeep Chawla, the lead author of the report, said: "If you take
year on year there seems to be a decline in this market but there is
considerable cause for concern as the UK has still in absolute terms
the largest number of users in Europe."

There were estimated to be 860,000 cocaine users in England and
Wales, and 140,000 in Northern Ireland and Scotland combined. The
report disclosed a concentration of "problem drug users" in the
capital, with about 74,000 - nearly a fifth of the total - living in
London.