Cocaine use increasing at alarming rate

PUBS and clubs are being targeted as part of a new campaign to combat rising cocaine use among young people.

Posters and beer mats will highlight the consequences of cocaine, which many recreational users see as relatively clean.

“The perception that cocaine is a safe drug needs to be corrected now before the use of what is an addictive poison grows any further,” said Dr Des Corrigan, chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD).

The campaign, led by the NACD and the Health Promotion Unit, is aimed at 18 to 35-year-olds and will run for six months, taking in the Christmas party season.

This phase of the National Drug Awareness Campaign carries the core message: “There is no fairytale ending with cocaine.”

It uses the nursery rhyme characters such as ‘Jack & Jill’ and ‘Georgie Porgie’ to illustrate the psychological, physical, sexual and financial hazards of recreational use.

“Cocaine overdoses are unpredictable and combining cocaine with other drugs, particularly alcohol, is highly risky. There are also risks associated with injection and the sharing of snorting and smoking equipment,” said Dr Corrigan.

The pub and club campaign will be backed up by print advertisements in national newspapers and magazines.

The latest phase of the national campaign follows concern at the rise in cocaine use.

A survey published by the NACD this year showed that 3% of the general population had taken cocaine at some stage.

This rose to 5% among 15 to 24-year-olds and 4% among 25 to 34-year-olds.

In relation to drug use in the past month, cocaine replaced ecstasy as the second most popular drug among 15 to 34-year-olds.

But the figure is still relatively low, at 0.7% of the age group.

Garda figures show cocaine offences jumped from 88 in 1998 to 478 in 2002.

The number of people receiving treatment for cocaine rose from 146 in 1996 to 580 in 2000.

In the first six months of this year, around 150 kilos of cocaine were seized, compared to 32 kilos in 2002.