House of Commons - The Cocaine Trade - Home Affairs Committee

The Cocaine Trade - Home Affairs Committee Contents

4 TRENDS IN COCAINE USE

Increase in users

COCAINE POWDER

53. As an average over 2001-2008,[68] the UK had the second highest prevalence rate for cocaine use in Europe across all adults. According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) the percentage of those aged 15-64 years who reported having used cocaine in the last year in the UK during this period was 2.3%, compared to a European average of 1.2%. Only Spain has a higher prevalence, at 3.1%. A similar pattern occurs amongst young people (15-24 years), where 5.0% in the UK reported use in the last year, compared to a European average of 2.2%. Only Denmark (5.6%) and Spain (5.4%) had higher rates. The EMCDDA comments that "in the two countries with the highest prevalence of cocaine use (Spain and the United Kingdom), the use of the drug increased dramatically in the late 1990s, before moving to a more stable, though still generally upward, trend". [69]

54. Within the UK, British Crime Survey (BCS) data for 2008/09 shows that 3% of all adults aged 16-59 reported using cocaine powder in the last year. This equates to 974,000 adults,[70] making cocaine the second most commonly used illegal drug in the last year after cannabis, which was used by 7.9% of all adults.[71] Given that 10.1% of all adults had used any illicit drug in the last year, around a third of those who had taken any drug had taken cocaine.

Figure 2: Percentage of 16-59 year olds reporting use of the most prevalent drugs in the last year, BCS 2008/09

55. Use of cocaine powder in the last year went up five times between 1996 (the year in which BCS measurement began) and 2008/09, from 0.6% of the adult population to 3.0%. Set against this trend, overall use of illicit drugs in the last year decreased from 11.1% in 1996 to 10.1% in 2008/09.

56. This pattern was also seen in those aged 16-24yrs, where cocaine powder use in the last year also quintupled, from 1.3% in 1996 to 6.6% in 2008/09 (438,000 young people).[72] This means that nearly half of those who used cocaine powder in the last year were aged 16-24 years (438,00 out of 974,000 people). By comparison, 18.7% had used cannabis in the last year.

57. The BCS does not ask about frequency of use, but does record that 974,000 people used cocaine powder in the last year, and 469,000 in the last month. This suggests that about half of those using cocaine powder are frequent users (frequent use being more than once a month).[73]

58. Figures given to us by the Ministry of Justice showed that more adult prisoners had used crack cocaine in the year before they entered prison than had used powder cocaine: 35% crack to 23% powder. However, this was reversed for young offenders, with 35% having used powder against 15% having used crack.[74] Added together, that would suggest that 58% of adults entering the prison system had used cocaine, whether powder or crack, within the previous year. Maria Eagle told us that only 0.2% of positive findings from prison random mandatory drug samples were for cocaine—around 100 people. She did "not consider that we have got a problem of cocaine abuse in prison".[75]

59. Whilst he agreed that the UK had a "serious problem" with cocaine use, Martin Barnes of DrugScope challenged the claim that cocaine use was on the rise now, arguing that the upsurge in users occurred rather in the late 1990s:

60. Professor McKeganey of Glasgow University, however, considered that "cocaine is one of the most serious threats that we face in relation to drug misuse. It is not yet in terms of problematic use on a scale of heroin, but it has changed dramatically recently in terms of increased levels of use".[77]

CRACK COCAINE

61. The picture with crack cocaine is more complex and disputed. BCS data suggest that, whilst use of cocaine powder rose between 1996 and 2008/09, crack cocaine remained stable over the same period: Home Office estimates suggest that there are 180,618 problem drug users who use crack cocaine in England, out of an estimated 328,767 total number of problem drug users.[78] Paul Hayes of the NTA told us that "crack cocaine is stable at the moment, it has been stable for a number of years, as has heroin".[79] ACC Matthews told us, though, that "in the last year, in line with the BCS, the picture has stabilised with regard to crack cocaine".[80]

62. However, the BCS itself warns that, since it is a household survey and excludes the homeless and those in institutions, it "is likely to underestimate the overall use of drugs such as opiates and crack cocaine where the majority of users are concentrated within small sub-sections of the population not reached by the survey".[81] DrugScope agreed, saying that the BCS underestimated crack usage since it did not access those with chaotic lifestyles.

63. The UK has the second highest number of cocaine users in Europe, second only to Spain. The number of adults reporting use of cocaine powder within the past year quintupled from 0.6% in 1996 to 3.0% in 2008/09, as did the number of young people. This increase in cocaine use bucks the overall trend in illicit drug use in the UK, which fell over the same period. Almost half of those who used cocaine in the last year were aged 16-24 years. The number of crack cocaine users seems to have remained relatively stable, although those with the most chaotic lives are not necessarily captured in surveys.

Increase in numbers seeking treatment

64. Figures from the National Treatment Agency show that the number of individuals receiving treatment for primary cocaine powder addiction increased from 10,770 in 2006/07 to 12,592 in 2007/08.

	2005 / 2006	Proportion (of treatment population)	2006 / 2007	Proportion (of treatment population)	2007 / 2008	Proportion (of treatment population)
Cocaine
Main	8252	5%	10770	6%	12592	6%
Adjunctive	9072	n/a	11525	n/a	12129	n/a
Crack
Main	9526	6%	10826	6%	10996	6%
Adjunctive	30309	n/a	35591	n/a	41905	n/a

Table 1: Individuals in treatment (new and existing) for cocaine and crack misuse, 2005/06-2007/08[82]

65. Paul Hayes of the NTA contextualised the problem:

Ministry of Justice figures show that 44% of entrants into prison treatment programmes reported crack cocaine or powder cocaine as one of their two main drugs of choice.[84]

66. In 2007/08 primary cocaine powder addiction overtook primary crack cocaine addiction in terms of the numbers of new entrants to the treatment system: 9001 entered treatment for cocaine addiction, and 7234 for crack, as compared to 6049 for cocaine and 6657 for crack in 2005/06.

	2005 / 2006	Proportion (of new entrants to drug treatment)	2006 / 2007	Proportion (of new entrants to drug treatment)	2007 / 2008	Proportion (of new entrants to drug treatment)
Cocaine
Main	6049	6%	7476	7%	9001	9%
Adjunctive	5935	n/a	7067	n/a	7357	n/a
Crack
Main	6657	7%	6904	7%	7234	7%
Adjunctive	19693	n/a	21375	n/a	25227	n/a

Table 2: Individuals entering treatment (new entrants to the system) for cocaine and crack misuse, 2005/06-2007/08[85]

Paul Hayes told us that the rise in numbers accessing treatment for cocaine powder was attributable to a rise in overall numbers of users:

Increase in deaths and hospital admissions

67. There was a large increase in non-fatal hospital admissions for cocaine poisoning in England, from 262 in 2000 /01 to 833 in 2006/07. Over this period the proportion of all poisonings which are attributable to cocaine has risen from 3.5% to 8.5%.[87]

Figure 3: Inpatient episodes due to poisoning by cocaine in England, 2000/01 to 2006/07[88]

68. There were 235 cocaine-related deaths in England and Wales in 2008, an increase of 20% compared with 2007 and a continuation of an upward trend since 2004. The number of cocaine-related deaths in 2008 accounted for 14% of all drug misuse deaths (1,738). Cocaine-related hospital admissions and deaths included those associated with both crack cocaine and cocaine powder. The upward trend from 2004-2008 mirrored an upward trend in overall numbers of drug misuse deaths, and in deaths from heroin/morphine and methadone over the same period.[89] By comparison, there were 897 deaths from heroin/morphine in 2008,[90] and 255 deaths by sharp instrument (overwhelmingly knives) in 2008/09.[91]

Year	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
No. cocaine-related deaths	54	176	190	196	235

Table 3: Cocaine-related hospital deaths in England and Wales, 2004-08[92]

Decrease in purity

69. There has been a marked downward trend in the purity of cocaine seizures over the past several years. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) reported the purity fell between 2002 and 2007:

70. Home Office figures based on analysis of police seizures by the Forensic Science Service for 2008/09 show that the average wholesale purity of cocaine powder seized by UKBA at the UK border was 62%, and by police at street level was 27%. However, the range of purity levels of street level seizures varied greatly, with some seizures as low as 5%, or even 0%.[94] The average purity of street level cocaine halved from 62% in 1999, [95] to 27% in 2008/09. The average purity of cocaine at the UK border fell only slightly, from 68% in 2004 to 62% in 2008/09.[96]

71. The purity of crack cocaine seems also to have diminished. Matthew Atha told us that "whereas 15 years ago the purity of crack cocaine was over 80% I have recently come across it as low as 11%".[97]

72. The purity of cocaine seizures at both wholesale and street levels has fallen over the past decade. The most recent forensic analysis found that, in 2008/09, wholesale cocaine averaged 62% purity, whereas street level cocaine averaged 27%, but with some seizures containing as little as 5% cocaine.

Increase in wholesale, but decrease in street, price

73. DrugScope told us that the price of a gram had fallen from around £80 in 1999 to around £40 in 2009.[98] A similar fall had been observed across other European countries.[99] A recent survey of its readers by dance music magazine MixMag found that the price of a gram of cocaine ranged from £10-80, with an average price of £40.[100] Crack cocaine followed a similar trend, with average street prices decreasing from £23 per 0.2 gram 'rock' in December 2000, to £15 in June 2009.[101]

74. However, despite a downward trajectory in street price over the past ten years, SOCA data show that the wholesale price has been rising steadily over the last decade. In 1999 it was £22,000-25,000 per kilo, whereas by December 2008, a kilo had risen to between £36,000 and 40,000. In March 2009 it reached £45,000. [102]

75. The street price of cocaine powder has approximately halved over the past ten years, from an average of £80 per gram in 1999 to £40 in 2009. A 'line' of cocaine now costs around between £2 and £8, although the price varies depending on location and purity. However, the wholesale price of cocaine at the UK border has taken the opposite trajectory, increasing from around £22,000 per kilo in 1999 to £45,000 in March 2009.

68 Data is collated by the EMCDDA and is derived from the latest available national surveys and so represents an average over the years 2001-2008 Back

69 Figures for 2008 extracted from the EMCDDA website: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/situation/cocaine/3. Accessed 27 January 2010. Back

70 Home Office Statistical Bulletin 12/09, Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2008/09 British Crime Survey, England and Wales,( July 2009), p.11 Back

71 Ibid., p.5 Back

72 Home Office Statistical Bulletin 12/09, Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2008/09 British Crime Survey, England and Wales,(July 2009), p.7 & p.9 Back

73 Ibid., pp.16-17 Back

74 Qq 445 & 458 Back

75 Q 463 Back

76 Q 37 Back

77 Q 125 Back

78 Home Office data: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/horr09.pdf, cited by DrugScope, Ev 108 Back

79 Q 241 Back