Update | Cocaine can be delivered faster than takeout pizza in England and Scotland, according to a recent global drug survey.
More than one third of cocaine users of the 1,000 that were surveyed in England and 500 in Scotland said they were able to get the illegal substance delivered within half an hour. A figure that places the two countries at fifth and sixth place on the global world ranking.
The 2018 Global Drug Survey, published on Wednesday, also revealed that only 12 percent in England and 19 percent in Scotland said their pizza would arrive within 30 minutes.
Of the 15,000 cocaine users that were surveyed from around the world, around 30.3 percent claimed they could get their drugs delivered within half an hour. While only 16.5 percent said they could get a pizza delivered in the same amount of time.
The survey found that Brazil was the country that had the speediest delivery of the Class A substance, with 45 percent of people saying they could expect a delivery within half an hour. Australia was among the regions that were least exposed to the drug.
The report also found that in recent times, drug dealers have been competing on product quality and speed of delivery.
"With many cities covered with CCTV cameras, traditional street dealing is becoming less attractive to many suppliers and consumers," the report said. "On the other hand, darknet markets allow drugs to be delivered through your letterbox and the rise of encrypted social media platforms makes ordering relatively safe."
Scottish drug users were also found to consume on average more than double the amount of cocaine in a single session than the global average, a figure which scientists believe may be due to poor quality of the drug in the region.
"We see people from all levels of society destroyed by cocaine addiction. It has become so prevalent that while some people go and buy it, others—as shown by this global drugs survey—just get it delivered," Dr. Niall Campbell, consultant psychiatrist at the Priory Hospital in Roehampton, told Newsweek. "We've seen all ages taking cocaine. People start taking it socially and then do it on their own and it just spirals... their life turns into a car crash."
"It's not just young people. Older people who started out smoking weed and doing amphetamines have moved onto this."
"It is crucial that frontline services have the resources to respond to this emerging issue and consider targeted services for people who may not see their use as problematic," Katy MacLeod, of the Scottish Drugs Forum, told HuffPost.
In 2018, The Global Drug Survey reached 140,000 users across 44 different countries. The yearly report focusses on recreational drug use and its impact on individual health and the community.
This story has been updated with a comment from Dr. Niall Campbell.
