New research shows that London is one of the quickest of cities to pick up cocaine – researchers say coke can be delivered faster than pizza. Hungry? Nah.

Work by the Global Drug Survey highlights the changes in how people are sourcing, buying and consuming drugs in the modern world, with encrypted messaging and smartphones contributing to more rapid, discreet drug deals.

“With the darknet facilitating the delivery of drugs direct to people’s letter boxes and encrypted social media platforms allowing people to order in secret, it’s not surprising that there’d be an impact on the speed of delivery,” Professor Adam Winstock of the Global Drug Survey told the Independent.

“Despite additional charges for swift drug delivery, the attraction of convenience and discretion means it makes sense for dealers to invest in premium delivery services. With all this in mind, we decided to look at efficiency and speed of drug delivery across the world. And to make a symbolic comparison, we’re using pizzas as a benchmark and, cocaine as the test.”

Last year’s study found that more people than ever were buying their drugs online – eight per cent of the 101,313 people questioned had used the dark web to buy their drugs – a significant jump in comparison to other years (5,000 in 2015 and 2,000 in 2014).

Last year’s report also found that 7 per cent of respondents said they’d used a mystery white powder within the last 12 months.

Take part in the Global Drug Survey study here