Ketamine has become the drug of choice at middle-class dinner parties, as well as cocaine, for those earning more than £52,000 per year.
People in this top income bracket were more likely than those earning less to take the powerful sedative ketamine, which is renowned for its use by vets on horses.
The popularity of the drug, which has hallucinogenic effects, has soared since the early 2000s and it is much cheaper than cocaine – £20 per gram as opposed to £30.
However, the demand for cocaine has continued to surge during the lockdown, with higher numbers of addicts presenting in hospital attributed to the masses of bored young professionals seeking to blow off steam while cooped up inside.
Those raking in more than £52,000 per year were most likely to be snorting cocaine – with 3.4% having used it in the last year.
In the same income bracket, 0.9% admitted to having sniffed ketamine in the same period, a significantly higher proportion than those earning less money.
Figures released by the Home Office show those who said they took drugs up to March 2020 in different wage brackets. Those raking in more than £52,000 per year were most likely to be snorting cocaine – with 3.4% having used it in the last year.
Police and Border Force workers carried out more than 180,000 drug seizures between March 2019 and March 2020, a rise of 20% on 2018’s figures
London had the greatest appetite for powdered cocaine – as opposed to crack, favoured by hardcore addicts and the poor – while the North East had the lowest propensity for granular cocaine.
The rise in drugs seizures was ‘mainly driven by an increase in the number of seizures of class B drugs’, a Home Office report said, with cannabis being the most commonly seized drug after it was found in 71% of drug seizures during the period.
Cocaine was found in 10% of seizures, making it the second most commonly seized drug.
The CSEW estimates are based on face-to-face interviews in the 12-month period with 33,735 people aged 16 and over who were asked about their experiences of crime.
Figures from the ONS show cannabis, ecstasy, hallucinogens and amphetamines were most used in the lowest income bracket – people earning less than £10,400.
People earning more than £52,000 showed the highest proportion of cocaine and ketamine use.
Some 19,230 adults aged 16 to 59 were asked about their use of drugs and household characteristics, according to ONS data.
Police forces carry out the majority of seizures (92%), with most tending to be smaller quantities of drugs from individuals while Border Force tend to seize much larger amounts, typically from trafficking for supply.
Cocaine remains the most common Class A drug to be seized, followed by heroin, the data published today shows. It comes as 3.4% of people from households earning £52,000 or more admitted taking cocaine in the last year
By quantity, Border Force seized 92% of heroin, 88% of cocaine, 81% of herbal cannabis, 79% of anabolic steroids, 77% of cannabis resin and 67% of ecstasy.
Meanwhile, research for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) provided an insight into the social backgrounds of people who used drugs.
The proportion of cocaine users who were private renters was 4.2%, as opposed to those who owned their own home (2%) or lived in social housing (1.6%).
The findings also suggested that 17.6% of full-time students have taken cannabis, compared with 5.9% of managers and other professionals, and indicated that the highest proportion of cannabis users (13.2%) were earning a salary of less than £10,400 a year.
Class B seizures, mostly covering cannabis, are the most common drugs to be seized by police and Border Force officials, Home Office figures have revealed
The majority of morphine and ecstasy seized is enough for just one dose, while officers are more likely to seize large quantities of LSD and the opioid methadone
There was no change in overall drug use and class A drug use in the year to March, the survey said, estimating that one in 11 adults aged 16 to 59 had taken a drug in the last year (9.4% – approximately 3.2 million people) – the same as the previous period.
The findings suggested 2.1% of adults aged 16 to 59 and 4.3% of adults aged 16 to 24 were ‘frequent’ drug users – classed as such if they had taken drugs more than once a month in the last year. This was similar to the previous year’s estimates.
Some 3.4% of adults aged 16 to 59 had taken a class A drug in the last year (approximately 1.1 million people), similar to the previous year, the research also indicated.
Priory addiction expert Dr Niall Campbell, of Priory’s Roehampton Hospital in south-west London, said the dangers of ‘coke stroke’, especially among the over-forties, were very real.
He said: ‘We’re seeing more and more patients, women as well as men, with cocaine addiction, particularly under lockdown.
Police are responsible for the vast majority of seizures, with Border Force only seizing the majority of two drug types – the hallucinogenic LSD and anabolic steroids
‘The supply of cocaine has gone undiminished during Covid and people are taking it more than ever for a whole host of reasons; they’re unhappy cooped up with partners at home, they’re bored, they’re stressed about losing their jobs and the economic uncertainty around Brexit.
‘But they have absolutely no idea of the purity of the drug they’re taking.
‘In the over-forties, especially, cocaine can cause ‘coke stroke’. Taking a strong stimulant like cocaine increases your heart rate, your blood pressure jumps, and you can have a stroke, or experience a ‘blow out’ of a weakened blood vessel in your brain.
‘The truth is cocaine is everywhere, it’s taken at all levels of society, all ages, but it absolutely destroys lives. We see it at the Priory all the time.’
Cocaine addiction patient figures rose particularly sharply from March-September 2020 compared to March-September 2019, the Priory said. The number of patients seen over these months at its UK hospitals for cocaine addiction more than doubled.