One million users make Britain cocaine capital of Europe – UN report

Dr Sandeep Chawla Current Position: Chief, Policy Analysis and Research Branch, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Vienna. Britain is the cocaine capital of Europe with more than one million users while one in 20 school children have tried it, according to the United Nations drugs report. The World Drug Report 2009 revealed that cocaine use increased dramatically in the UK from the mid-90s, but remained stable over the last two years. Dr Sandeep Chawla, lead author of the report, said: “If you take year and on year there seems to be a decline in this market but there is considerable cause for concern as the UK has still in absolute terms the largest numbers in Europe.”