Take their citizenship away and deport them to the nearest island

50,000 Londoners are addicted to crack, says study

Much higher number of users than expected
Drug linked to violence, paranoia and depression

James Meikle, health correspondent
Tuesday September 20, 2005
The Guardian

Almost 50,000 Londoners are addicted to crack cocaine, according to research published yesterday.
The estimate suggests that 46,000 15 to 44-year-olds in the capital are injecting or smoking the
drug. That amounts to more than 1% of the age group. Previous estimates had put the level of
addiction at almost a quarter that number.

The re-evaluation of the prevalence of crack addiction in London carries serious implications for
crime and health. Offenders are known to spend as much as £500 a week on the habit, while in some
police stations up to one in five arrests are said to relate to crack use.

There are also increased risks among users of psychiatric problems, such as paranoia and depression,
and links to violent behaviour.

Injecting the drug exposes users to the threat of blood-borne infections such as HIV and hepatitis
C. An estimated three in five users also take opiates such as heroin, according to the authors of a
report published online by the Society for the Study of Addiction.

The figures, from researchers at Imperial College London and Bristol University, are far higher than
previously suggested. The 2001-02 British Crime Survey, based on 40,000 interviews, concluded that
there were 13,600 users in London, 0.3% of the relevant population, and 58,000 (0.2%) in England and
Wales.

In the new research, figures were compiled from several sources for 12 London boroughs, including
the numbers of people in specialist drug treatment, those arrested or using accident and emergency
services and population surveys.

The researchers also sought to assess the scale of the problem among drug users who inject. They
multiplied the figures to cover the whole capital, suggesting 1.3% of the age group used crack,
although the problem was twice as bad in the inner city as in outer London.

Matthew Hickman of Imperial College London said: "Although crack cocaine has been a cause of concern
in many countries since the 1980s, there has not been the predicted epidemic across the UK until
now."

"We must be cautious but the analysis suggests there is a substantial problem."

He warned against extrapolating the findings of the new research to apply across Britain. Different
cities had different profiles of drug taking. Bristol, for instance, had significant levels of crack
cocaine use whereas Middlesbrough - where there were a large number of heroin users - did not appear
to have a widespread crack problem