London: Drinking Water Now Contaminated By Cocaine: REPORT

Cocaine use in the UK is now so common that traces of the drug have contaminated the drinking water supply, a report has shown. www.drugs.ie

In a study to assess the dangers from pharmaceutical compounds appearing in the water we drink, scientists discovered traces of cocaine after it had gone through intensive purification treatments.

Experts from the Drinking Water Inspectorate found supplies contained benzoylecgonine, the metabolised form of the drug that appears once it has passed through the body. It is the same compound that is looked for in urine-based drug tests for cocaine.

Steve Rolles, from the drug policy think tank Transform, told The Sunday Times that the findings were an indication of the scale of the use of the drug in Britain today.

“We have the near highest level of cocaine use in western Europe,” he said. “It has also been getting cheaper and cheaper at the same time as its use has been going up.”

According to the charity DrugScope, www.drugscope.org.uk there are around 180,000 dependent users of crack cocaine in England, and nearly 700,000 people aged 16-59 are estimated to take cocaine every year in Britain.

As well as benzoylecgonine, scientists also found traces of the common pain-killer ibuprofen and carbamazepine, a drug for treating epilepsy. The drinking water

tested also contained significantly higher quantities of caffeine.

Assessing the risk from pharmaceuticals appearing in the water supply, a recent report from Public Health England found that the quantities of cocaine found were

around a quarter of what appeared before treatment and, at a dose of just 4 nanograms per litre, was unlikely to represent a danger to the public.

“Intakes of the compounds detected in drinking water are many orders of magnitude lower than levels therapeutic doses,” the report said.

“Estimated exposures for most of the detected compounds are at least thousands of times below doses seen to produce adverse effects in animals and hundreds of thousands below human therapeutic doses.”
“Thus, the detected pharmaceuticals are unlikely to present a risk to health.”

Dublin: One-In-Five Problem Drinkers Abuse Other Drugs: REPORT

More than 40,000 cases were treated for problem alcohol use between 2008 and 2012 according to new figures from the Health Research Board (HRB).

High level findings

• The total number of cases increased from 7,940 in 2008, to 8,604 in 2011; then decreased to 8,336 in 2012.
• The number of new cases decreased in 2012, while numbers returning for treatment increased.
• One-in-five are using other drugs along with alcohol.
• The proportion of cases in employment has decreased from 30% in 2008 to 20% in 2012.
• There are notable regional differences in the numbers presenting for treatment.
•  In 2012, two out of three cases presenting were male and the median age of cases was 40 years old.
• Age 16 remains the median age that people in treatment started drinking - below the legal age. This has not changed for five years (2008 – 2012).

According to Graham Love, Chief Executive of the Health Research Board,

‘These figures indicate the level of harmful drinking taking place in Ireland. The adoption of the Public Health Alcohol Bill, which includes the introduction of minimum pricing, the regulation of the marketing and advertising of alcohol, and the health labelling of alcohol products, should help address key areas of alcohol-harm reduction among Irish people.'

Commenting on the findings HRB lead researcher, Dr Suzi Lyons, says,

‘The decrease between 2011 and 2012 reflects a fall in the number of new cases presenting for the first time. However, there was an increase in the number of cases returning for treatment which reflects a growth in the number of cases with chronic alcohol use problems.

The overall decrease could reflect a drop in people presenting for treatment, levels of participation and reporting to the HRB by the services Nationwide or a combination of both’.

Polydrug use

Almost one-in-five cases treated for problem alcohol use in 2012 also reported using at least one other drug. The most common drugs used in addition to alcohol were cannabis, cocaine, benzodiazepines and ecstasy.

‘The main concern with using more than one drug is that it increases complexity of cases and often leads to poorer outcomes for the patient’, explains Dr Lyons.

Regional trends

The incidence of new cases between 2008 and 2012 were highest in Waterford, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and Wexford. All of these counties had more than 224 cases per 100,000 of the 15-64 year old population. Incidence was lowest in Clare, Roscommon, Wicklow, Mayo and Meath, with each county reporting less than 83 cases per 100,000 of the 15-64 year old population.

‘Our records show different levels of reporting from different counties. In some regions all services are reporting all cases to the HRB, whereas there are inconsistent returns from others, which we can see in the West in particular. Incomplete reporting means that some counties figures understate the number of cases presenting for treatment. This could lead to inaccurate assessment in terms of need for services in a particular area’, concludes Dr Lyons.

The full report, Treated problem alcohol use in Ireland: figures from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System, is available at the LINK below.

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Treated problem alcohol use in Ireland: 2012 figures from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System