Cocaine abuse ‘on the rise’

17 August 2004

MADRID – A warning about the sharp rise in the number of people seeking help from cocaine abuse was made by the Anti-Drug Aid Foundation (FAD) on Tuesday.

Over the past four years, the number of calls to the foundation’s information line regarding the drug had shot up from 27 percent of all calls to 41 percent, said FAD.

The typical caller was a young man aged between 24 and 29. More than two-thirds had received no previous treatment for their addiction and said they had been taking cocaine for up to two years.

Cocaine consumption is now directly related with “youngster’s entertainment” says FAD, pointing out that 18 percent of habitual users are also are also big consumers of alcohol and cannabis”.

In more and more vases it is the victims themselves who are now phoning the foundation for help, rather than their parents or partners, added FAD.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news