Scotland, the country famous for Highlands, bagpipes and even our own Bon Scott has surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) been dubbed the ‘Cocaine Capital’ of the world, according to a new documentary. The moniker was handed down after revelations surrounding drug use in Scotland were revealed in Vice’s short film Is Scotland the New Cocaine Capital? Produced as part of the publisher’s High Society series, the video focused on drug use around the United Kingdom, exposing the systematic failings of the SNP Government.
Glasgow | Image: Artur Kraft
By far the most shocking admission revealed in the documentary was that Scotland has the highest level of cocaine consumption on the planet. Speaking with Glasgow Live, the makers of the short film made the stunning claim, with features reporter Josh Osbourne confirming that Scots take “about 1.2g of coke per session — double the global average”.
Examining the causes behind the rapidly rising use of cocaine, Is Scotland the New Cocaine Capital? explains the SNP government’s “failed” efforts in the war on drugs. For several years, the class A drug has had a hold on the country, with previous reports in the Scottish Express revealing that there were over 1,200 drug deaths in the country in the previous year alone.
Shockingly, the Vice documentary reveals that cocaine use in Scotland is evolving. Throughout the short video, a number of users admit to injecting the drug as opposed to snorting it, leading to the potential of a significant HIV outbreak. For Scots, the prevalence of cocaine is getting out of hand and it isn’t exactly a new issue.
Image: Colin Davis/Unsplash
In 2018, a survey conducted by the Scottish Drugs Forum of 130,000 people across 44 countries, including 1,300 people in Scotland, found that a whopping 61.9 per cent of Scottish respondents reported ever using cocaine. Of that figure, a shocking 51.7 per cent reported using it in that last year, alone. In comparison, just 25 per cent of respondents globally reported using cocaine. Simon McCleane, a former undercover cop told the Scottish Express that a solution must be found, urging governments to push for decriminalisation.
“Not just to have a free for all, that everyone can go and buy drugs whenever they want — that’s actually how it is right now,” he said. “We need to put a system of regulation in place, that we take control of what people are buying, where they’re buying it, who they’re buying it from, and we take control of that marketplace and keep people safe.”
While the Scottish Government has stopped short of decriminalising cocaine, it has put further steps in place to mitigate the issue. First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon announced that the country would seek to increase the number of residential rehabilitation beds, while also allocating additional funds to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in communities. She then went on to label the issue a ‘national disgrace’, acknowledging that the government ‘should have done more earlier’.
