Pubdate: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 Source: BBC News (UK Web) Copyright: 2005 BBC Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/ Author: Jonathan Duffy, BBC News Magazine THE COCAINE PARADOX Cocaine is an addictive Class A drug, its use widely deplored. Yet, as recent events perhaps show, its sphere of influence is wider than we might think. So, do we have a paradoxical attitude to the drug? Everyone enjoys a party now and again, so who could begrudge those celebrities who populate the pages of the tabloid press with tales of their "partying" antics? Yet all is not what it might seem with such stories. One interesting aspect to emerge from the deluge of coverage following last month's allegations that Kate Moss had snorted cocaine was the use of the word "partying". Frequently it is a euphemism for doing drugs. "Celebrities are forever saying in interviews: 'X was partying a lot at that time'," wrote author and journalist Anna Blundy. "What they mean is that they were addicted to drugs." This revelation will come as no surprise to many insiders. From LA to London, cocaine has long been known as a social lubricant. It is a stimulant, helping users feel alert and socially confident. It dulls the inhibitions that most of us have, to a greater or lesser extent, when mixing with a bunch of people we don't know very well. In some parts of some industries - fashion, public relations, the media, city trading, pop music, to name just a few - socialising into the small hours is part of the job. And coke is part of the scene. Robbie Williams last weekend highlighted what he saw as hypocritical views towards the drug in the media, saying he had personally taken cocaine with journalists who had criticised Kate Moss for doing the same. For all its associations of glamour, cocaine use is not condoned by modern mainstream society - though things were different in the 19th Century, when it could be found in dozens of medicines on sale in High Street chemists. While legalisation of cannabis, a so-called soft drug, is a perennial debate, heroin and crack occupy the other end of the spectrum. Hard and highly addictive, they draw in the desperate, and turn them into junkies. But despite having the same Class A status, cocaine occupies a more paradoxical place. While the media overtly abhors it, in the very same breath it laps up the glamorised celebrity culture that cocaine helps perpetuate. What's more, sections of society have increasingly come to imitate these values, as individuals become accustomed to spending more on going out and enjoying themselves. The falling cost of cocaine has also made it more accessible. Mark is 33, owns his own flat, rides a scooter around London and knows how to apply himself in his skilled job of website development. He also enjoys cocaine. 'Socially acceptable' He is just the sort of person Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, had in his sights when last year he vowed to target middle class cocaine users who think it is "socially acceptable". Cocaine use has risen sharply in the past nine years, albeit from a low base. Latest figures show 2.4% of 16-59-year-olds in England and Wales had used cocaine in the past 12 months - up from 0.6% in 1996. In the mid-90s ecstasy and hallucinogenic drugs were more popular than cocaine. Today, coke is the second most popular illegal drug, after cannabis. The steepest rise has been within the 25-34 age group - which includes Mark - where almost 6% took coke in the previous year. Mark first tried cocaine when he was 19 and his usage now goes in fits and starts. "I'm waiting for a delivery now, for the weekend. It's a friend's birthday. But it's been six weeks since I last took it," he says. Last year, though, there was a two-month stretch where he took cocaine every weekend. He likes the drug's ability to "perk you up" on a Friday night, at a bar with a drink after a tiring week, and how it oils the wheels in a social situation. "There's also the social aspect of going to the loos with a friend and giving them a line of coke. It's a friendly act, and it's also a bit naughty." Health issues The drawbacks of snorting coke include damage to the lining of the nose, which leads to surges in blood pressure caused by the narrowing of coronary arteries. Users can suffer chest pains which can lead to heart attacks or strokes, and some experience an itch, known as "cocaine bugs". Aside from the physical problems, regular use can also lead to psychosis and severe depression, say experts. And, as with all illegal drugs, it can create a divide between those friends and family who also use them, and those who don't. So far though, Mark has seen nothing of these effects - either in him, or his network of about 15 friends who also take coke. "You might have a bad night, but you'd have that on alcohol. None of us has been hospitalised from coke." The alcohol point is an important one for Mark and those like him, who argue there is a moral equivalence between alcohol and drugs like cocaine. Yet one is legal and one is banned. "You go into the bars where I work and you know people are taking it. It's going on and everyone knows it. Celebrities take coke all the time, but it's just not reported. It's like [comedian] Bill Hicks said - - you've got to have a war on something." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek