Cocaine 'being used in weddings and village feasts'

The perception that cocaine is a recreational drug used only by the rich no longer holds as experts say it is even being consumed at village feasts, weddings and inside band clubs.

Cocaine was being used by people from all walks of life, the CEO of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services, Sina Bugeja said yesterday when launching a campaign targeting the drug.

Last year, Sedqa treated 39 new cases of cocaine abuse, up from the 26 new cases seen in 2007.

"The number of people seeking treatment for cocaine abuse is increasing - next year there will be more," said George Grech, Sedqa's clinical director.

It was no longer a drug taken by the rich for recreational purposes, he said. It was infiltrating all strata of society in different places of entertainment, including weddings, village feasts and band clubs, he pointed out.

The reasons for this surge in cocaine use were cheaper prices and more availability, the experts say.

The trend is also reflected in the recent European drug survey carried out in schools where it emerged that Malta has the highest rate of 15-year-olds who take cocaine when compared to their European peers. Caritas recently saw an increase in the number of cocaine addicts making use of its services, up from 3.2 per cent in 2004 to 24.3 per cent in 2008. At the same time, people seeking help for heroin abuse declined from 80 per cent in 2004 to 63.8 per cent in 2008.

The information comes as the world today marks International Day against Drug Trafficking and Abuse.

Seminars are being held for Maltese professionals, such as social workers, probation and police officers, who come into contact with people who take drugs.

The drug can be sniffed, injected or smoked. Its immediate physical effects include raised breathing rate, raised blood pressure and body temperature and dilated pupils. In the long term, it leads to a state of increasing irritability, restlessness, and paranoia. This may result in a full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which the individual loses touch with reality and experiences auditory hallucinations.