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Written question asked by Lord Brady of Altrincham (Conservative) on Thursday, 3 April 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 21 April 2008. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 April 2008 on behalf of the Home Office.

Cocaine: Misuse

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the prevalence of cocaine abuse in the 15 to 25 year age group in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answer

The British Crime Survey (BCS) provides information on the prevalence and trends of illicit drug use among 16 to 59-year-olds in England and Wales and reports prevalence of cocaine use in the last year for young people aged 16 to 24.Figures in the following table show prevalence of cocaine use (including crack cocaine and cocaine powder) over the last five years using the 2002-03 to 2006-07 BCS. The BCS shows that cocaine use among young people has remained stable during this period.

BCS: Proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds reporting use of cocaine in the last year
Percentage
Drug 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Statistically significant change2002-03 to2006-07¹ Statistically significant change2005-06 to2006-07¹
Any cocaine 5.2 5.4 5.1 5.9 6.1 — —
Cocaine powder 5.1 5.2 5.1 5.9 6.0 — —
Crack cocaine 0.5 0.4 0.1 0.4 0.4 — —
Unweighted base 4,227 5,351 6,796 5,892 5,706 — —
¹ A statistically significant increase at the 5 per cent. level would be denoted by 'up arrow character'. A statistically significant decrease at the 5 per cent. level would be denoted by 'down arrow character.'.
Source:
British Crime Survey

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
474 c1936W; 200002
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Drugs Misuse Young people Cocaine
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk