One million Brits on hard drugs
The number of people taking Class A drugs has bolted past one million, an all-time high, according to figures released yesterday.
In total 1,028,000 Brits regularly use heroin, cocaine, crack and ecstasy.
Disturbingly, over half a million young people (642,000 users) regularly used the exceedingly addictive hard drug, cocaine.
According to critics, the number of young people taking cocaine has tripled since 1996.
Overall drug use in 2002-2003 topped 3.7 million people, according to the annual British Crime Survey.
The survey found that 3.3 per cent of Britons had admitted to using hard drugs in the last year.
More than a quarter of 16-24 year-olds had tried cannabis, the survey found.
David Davis, Tory spokesman on home affairs, said “These are shocking figures and will leave many parents across Britain extremely worried.
“By constantly sending out mixed messages, the Government are losing the war on drugs.”
