Cocaine use falls amid legal highs surge

EUROPE’S “cocaine bubble” appears to have burst — but the online sale of so-called legal highs is growing at an “unprecedented speed”.

These are among the findings of the 2011 annual report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), published yesterday.

The report said four of the five countries with the highest levels of cocaine use — Denmark, Spain, Italy and Britain — reported a decline in recent (last year) usage among young adults, aged 15-34.