ALMOST TWO million people take illegal drugs at least once a month. A Britain newspaper The Independent quotes government sources for these shocking figures. Cocaine popularity is growing majorly among teenagers and young adults, which is a point of concern. In fact, recent report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), a UN agency has stated that how film actors, sports stars and rock musicians influence young people and it states that use of cocaine by celebrities is encouraging more young people to take the drug. This is an area of concern not only in United Kingdom (UK), but across many countries.

For UK report of The Independent, adds that two million people in Britain take illegal drugs each month while one in three adults has tried banned substances, but what is of concern is that one in four school-aged children has used drugs. The reports state how commonplace drug use has become in modern Britain, which has some of the highest levels of abuse in Western Europe. More and more people are using cocaine or ecstasy at the weekend, and this number is growing.

Cocaine is a naturally occurring alkaloid usually extracted from the leaves of the coca shrub and is powerfully addictive stimulant drug. The drug is a strong central nervous system stimlant and its abuse affects include constricted blood vessels, dilated pupils, increased temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure. Experts state that if the drug is taken repeatedly and at increasingly high doses, it may lead to a state of increasing irritability, restlessness, and paranoia. This can result in a period of full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which the user loses touch with reality and experiences auditory hallucinations. Plus there is many more complication including cardiac, affect on respiration and even gastro-intestinal tract. Cocaine abuse during pregnancy is an important public health issue. Recent research states that neonatal exposure to cocaine causes neocortical cytoarchitectural and neurobehavioural alterations in the developing brain.

The media report quotes government data, which showed that the number of under-25s admitted to hospital with mental and behavioral problems linked to illegal drug use has risen by around a fifth in a decade, something which is associated with the drug abuse. It is high time that world agency needs to do something concern to reverse this trend or we are moving ahead in tough times, with the way its drug use in soaring.