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Record Numbers Of Elderly People Are Taking Cocaine And Grandkids Are Supplying It

Record Numbers Of Elderly People Are Taking Cocaine And Grandkids Are Supplying It

Grandparents are reportedly getting cocaine off their grandkids.

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

A record number of old people are said to be suffering from brain issues from taking cocaine.

As per the Mirror, some of the people involved are actually taking the class A drug, which is being supplied by their grandchildren in some instances.

The publication claim that NHS stats have shown 14 admissions of those aged 90 and over in England in the year up till April, which is up from nine in the previous year.

Jan Gerber, who runs Paracelsus Recovery in London and Zurich, said: "We believe it is for similar reasons that alcohol and medication abuse is common among older people - to medicate physical pain, loneliness, end-of-life anxiety."

Alamy

Gerber also claims this issue has been going on for a long time and isn't at all uncommon.

He added: "It is not unheard of that elder users procure drugs from grandchildren."

The publication also claims that in 2020, there were 12,564 UK admissions for mental disorders caused by cocaine, compared to 4,875, 10 years ago.

Most of those people, however, were aged between 20 to 39.

Well, it turns out that Bristol has been named the cocaine capital of Europe in a new study.

How did researchers find out, exactly? Why, from the sewage, of course.

The project saw experts examine wastewater in cities across Europe to analyse the continent's drug-taking habits, testing samples for benzoylecgonine (BE) - which is produced when the body breaks down the class A substance.

Bristol.
Alamy

While London's wastewater has topped the chart in the past, this year Bristol was the only UK city participating - taking one for the country by nabbing the, er, coveted number one spot, beating the likes of Amsterdam, Zurich, Antwerp, Barcelona, Paris and Madrid.

A report on the research, published by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, said: "The BE loads observed in wastewater indicate that cocaine use remains highest in western and southern European cities, in particular in cities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.

"Very low levels were found in the majority of the eastern European cities studied, but the most recent data show signs of increases."

According to NHS, treatments that are known to be effective for cocaine addiction include:

  • Talking therapies - therapies like cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) help you to understand your addiction and to change your thoughts and behaviour. This will either be as part of a group or one to one with a specialist drugs counsellor or therapist.
  • Couples therapy - you may be offered this if you have a partner who does not use cocaine.
  • Incentives - you may be offered rewards, such as vouchers, for sticking with your treatment and for staying off cocaine when it finishes.

If you or someone you know is struggling with drug addiction, click here to gain access to a number of crisis support helplines and contacts.

Featured Image Credit: Unsplash

Topics: Cocaine, Drugs, UK