Most cocaine users have full-time jobs

By Humphrey Carter WITH concern for the escalating use of cocaine by adults in Spain and Britain as reported by the Bulletin yesterday, the drug rehabilitation charity Proyecto Hombre Baleares said that over half of cocaine users in the Balearics are middle-aged professionals with either their own homes or families. The spokesperson for Proyecto Hombre Spain, Lino Salas, said yesterday that here in the Balearics that 92 percent of cocaine users work full time, much higher than the 80 percent national average, while over half are professionals on long-term contracts. Lino said that, the results of a survey of 100 cocaine users the foundation treated for cocaine abuse last year in the Balearics, users are spending an average of 1.250 euros per month on the drug with 12 percent under great strain because they have children, mortgages and loans to also pay for. Proyecto Hombre has drawn up ma profile of the average cocaine user in the Balearics. percent are male, in the thirties, work full-time and own their own property. The foundation has also discovered that soft drugs do lead to hard drugs. What is more, 45 percent have received treatment for psychological or emotional problems, 42 percent either suffer or have suffered from severe depression while nearly 60 percent suffer from stress and 40 percent have problem controlling their aggression. According to their studies, cocaine users starts regularly consuming cannabis and alcohol at the age of 15, when the average age of 16.5, before moving o to cocaine at the age of 17. By the time most approach the charity for rehabilitation treatment por help, they have been consuming alcohol regularly for 12 years and cocaine for nine. 43 per cent have also experimented with amphetamines and, to a lesser extent, heroine. Proyecto Hombre, the president of which is Queen Sofia of Spain, shares the concern expressed by Brussels over the incresaingly common use of cocaine among young adults in Spain and is devising a new campaign to try and stop cocaine use.