Mirror, mirror on the wall, who are the biggest coke heads of them all? Turns out it’s Londoners and Bristolians. Recent tests have revealed that an estimated £2.75m worth of cocaine is being consumed on average every single day in the capital – that's more than Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Berlin put together. Bristol meanwhile, lays claim to the most users per head, per day out of the whole of Europe. The Brits can’t win Eurovision, and football certainly didn’t come home, but we do now apparently have this under our belts.
This unwholesome fact was recently discovered by a team of forensic scientists at King’s College University who tested waste water in London. They found an enormous concentration of benzoylecgonine (BE), the compound excreted in urine after cocaine is processed in the liver. They revealed that on average, 23kg of the class A drug was being consumed in London on the daily, meaning the capital’s cocaine market is now worth approximately £1bn per year.
Ever since the introduction of airport style security at most London clubs, one would be forgiven for thinking the city’s status as a party capital had waned. However, we had it all wrong – far from being deterred, Londoners are at it more than ever. The tests further revealed that this isn’t just a weekend indulgence either, in fact there is sustained usage throughout the week, proving that it’s a city of 24 hour party people, even if the government is trying to shut down every single club.