Cocaine use increases as price drops

THE price of cocaine available on the streets has dramatically dropped, adding to the huge rise in the number of users, gardaí and community activists have revealed.

The drug can now be bought for as low as €60 a gram, a third less than the average price last year. The low price is attracting users in their early teens and cocaine is becoming increasingly popular among communities previously devastated by heroin.

As gardaí prepare to undertake a major study of who is taking cocaine, activists on the ground and drug squad sources said it is bound to reveal widespread and growing use across the social spectrum.