A new line on coke

Published on Saturday 16 February 2008 18:58

WHEN the BBC's Ashes To Ashes crashed garishly onto our screens this month, it brought back more than just some dodgy 1980s fashion and even dodgier music.

The show also revived the classic image of the cocaine user: a well-paid, well-dressed 20-something taking time out from a busy and successful career to snort a few lines for kicks. It is a stereotype that largely persists, even without the reminder of a bit of retro TV.

As this newspaper reveals today, the reality of cocaine use in 2008 is very different. You don't have to be rich to afford the so-called "champagne" drug – after record harvests in South America a line of coke can cost as little as 5. You don't have to work in London or any of Scotland's cities to get your hands on it either – we have the third highest use of cocaine in Europe and police say it is available on the streets of most towns and villages. Most concerning of all, you certainly don't have to be an adult to know where to get it and how to use it.

In fact, the latest research suggests that one in 10 Scots in their mid to late teens are taking cocaine. As such, they are probably the biggest single group of clients for the drug dealers who blight our society. Drug workers say that the trend is for groups of teens to pool their money to buy a gram of cocaine for about 50. They then divide it into 10 or so lines. So far, so worrying – but there's more. The young thrill seekers combine the cocaine with alcohol, the former off-setting the depressant qualities of the booze, which lets them drink more. This, in turn, poses obvious health risks to the users, as well as increasing the chances they will harm themselves or others.

Of course, young people have always been inclined to experiment with drink and drugs. It is perhaps inevitable that many, having seen cocaine glamorised by celebrity users and in films and TV, want to try it for themselves now that they can afford it. But this latest trend is not mere dabbling. It represents a clear effort to get as high as possible for as long as possible, regardless of the consequences. As such, it fits in with other concerns, such as underage binge drinking, which has contributed to a string of deaths and assaults, and which, doctors have warned, has led to people in their 20s presenting with liver failure.

This is all terrifying for parents, of course. But it is too easy to use these facts as yet another excuse to demonise our young people. Worrying though the latest figures are, they in fact show that the vast majority of kids are not taking cocaine. The most recent Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Survey, in 2006, found that 79% of 15-year-olds had never taken drugs, even "softer" ones such as cannabis. Although you wouldn't know it from the views of some commentators, most kids are also not mugging pensioners, shoplifting or even congregating on street corners. And yet society brackets "the youth of today" as hoodie-wearing troublemakers who pose such a threat that they must be driven away by ultrasonic devices that assault their ears.

It is time to recognise that most young people are decent people – and treat them accordingly. The new trend in cocaine use must be viewed in this context, not as a stick with which to beat a whole generation of Scots, but as a health issue which must be tackled for the sake of the individuals involved. As with alcohol and smoking, this can only be done through education.

Of course, the police must do all they can to stop drugs getting onto our streets, but we have to accept that some will always get through and that young people in particular will be curious to try them. So let's tell them exactly what the effect may be on their bodies: the racing heartbeat that can lead to cardiac arrest or stroke; the risk of kidney failure; the corrosive effect that can destroy nostrils. And, most of all, we must make it clear that the belief that cocaine is not addictive is a myth.

This can only take place in schools, but even there the message will only get across if we treat our teenagers as young adults rather than as kids. This approach is the only way to stop teenagers doing anything we don't approve of. We can only hope that, armed with the knowledge they need, they themselves then choose to do the right thing.

Moderator misses the mark

THOSE who are elected to the office of the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland are normally as keen to dive into controversy as a cat is to water. It is rare in the extreme for a Moderator to speak out on sensitive issues (which some in the Kirk complain leaves the way clear for more outspoken heads of other faiths).

So when the Rt Rev Sheilagh Kesting takes time to warn of growing tensions between the English and Scottish, her claims must be studied seriously. "There is certainly a lot of anecdotal evidence that there is anti-Englishness abroad in Scotland today," she says, adding: "The principle behind sectarianism is the same one that feeds anti-English feeling." She calls on us all to bin the "banter" which feeds discrimination.

Rev Kesting's intervention is welcome at a time when many are considering the impact of devolution and the rise of the SNP. But her comments, however well-meaning, are misguided. All the signs are that anti-Englishness has in fact declined, and those who do describe abuse say it usually comes in the form of harmless, and friendly, ribbing.

Rev Kesting may have a point that a few loud voices in England are jealous of the way Scotland is spending its money since devolution, and that may also be a factor in the call by 60% of Berwick residents to have their town returned to Scotland. It may be the result of a TV poll which is unlikely ever to result in real change – but can life in Scotland be so bad for the English if a whole town wants to come in?

Wha's like us… Mark Beaumont

FIFERS have a reputation for being somewhat insular and reluctant to travel – an unfair slander summed up by the tale of the Kirkcaldy man who, when asked if he had ever been abroad, replied: "Na, but I ance kent a man who had been to Crail." If anyone still took the claim seriously, they have been proved wrong by Mark Beaumont, from Newburgh.

On Friday, he completed a record-breaking global tour by bicycle, completing the 18,400-mile journey in just 195 days. Covering an average of nearly 100 miles a day, he visited 20 countries across Europe, Asia, Australia and the US, wearing out no fewer than eight pairs of cycling shorts on the way. He had to fix seven punctures, crashed three times and was mugged once. If Phileas Fogg had jumped on his bike his journey would not have been more epic.

Mark's trip will earn him a place in the Guinness Book Of Records and could raise 18,000 for charities. He also joins the ranks of that inspiring – and sometimes puzzling – band who tackle remarkable challenges "because they are there". Welcome home, Mark.