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Rich Brits Are Taking Way More Coke and Ecstasy Than They Did Last Year

Everything's going to shit and the world is doomed, but hey, someone's having a good time in this hellish reality.

(Photo by Michael Segalov)

Brexit might have happened and the world is rapidly destroying itself but at least someone is having a good time in this hellish reality. Rich Brits are now taking a lot more coke and ecstasy than they did last year. New figures show that the use of the two drugs has soared among people in wealthier households in England and Wales. In 2015/16, three per cent of those aged between 16 and 59 from households with an income of £50,000 or more reported taking powder cocaine in the previous year. That might not sound like a lot, but that's an increase from 2.2 percent the previous year. Both were deemed "statistically significant" in the Home Office report and are the largest percentages for the use of the substances since 2008/9. By contrast, drug use in lower-income households was either down or flat year-on-year. The figures showed some other interesting facts too. Around one in five young adults, aged 16 to 25, had taken an illicit drug in the last year, equivalent to around 1.1 million people. While that's similar to the previous year, it's down dramatically compared to 10 years ago, when the proportion was more than 25 percent. It also showed that more than a third of adults thought it would be very or fairly easy for them personally to get hooked up with drugs within 24 hours if they wanted them.

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Simon Antrobus, chief executive of Addaction, said: "The figures showing rising cocaine and ecstasy use in adults in households with £50,000 income a year or more, [reflect] higher purity, wider availability and a cultural shift which has increasingly normalised those substances."

More on coke:

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Here's How Your Low Key Coke Habit Affects Your Body

How Unethical Is Buying Coke?