Cocaine users with a 'social conscience' targeted in campaign
National Crime Agency video warns of the drug's impact – but critics argue regulation would counter this

Recreational cocaine users are being targeted by a new police campaign that examines the social and environmental impact of the drug.
The National Crime Agency's video highlights the destruction, violence and exploitation caused by the production and sale of the drug, from the jungles of Colombia to the streets of the UK.
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"87663","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Recreational users, who perhaps care about the exploitation of workers in sweatshops or environmental abuses, often have no idea of the damage funded by their occasional line," said the agency's Tony Saggers.
He said it was "hypocritical" for people who claim to care about important social issues to see no problem in regularly using the Class A drug.
"People sit there at dinner parties and discuss what they find abhorrent in the world and then they make a choice to consume something generating huge exploitation," he told the Daily Mail.
Earlier this year it was revealed that the number of cocaine users in the UK had more than trebled in the last two decades.
Experts warn that the drug is no longer just considered a party drug for the wealthy, but is firmly entrenched in all parts of British society.
The NCA's campaign was created in collaboration with law enforcement official in Colombia, the world's top producer of cocaine.
"We see criminal activities due to drug trafficking such as killings, extortion, theft, money laundering and smuggling," Ricardo Alberto Restrepo, from the country's anti-narcotics police, told the BBC.
"Each pound spent to buy drugs in the UK is money which will be used to buy firearms, which will kill policemen and women as well as other victims linked to drug trafficking."
But some were quick to suggest that state regulation of the drug would eliminate these problems.
"It's not drug use that causes violence; it's drug prohibition," tweeted Johann Hari, a British journalist and author of a best-selling book on the war on drugs. "Ask yourself - where are the violent alcohol dealers today?"
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - April 20, 2025
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - Pam Bondi, retirement planning, and more
By The Week US
-
5 heavy-handed cartoons about ICE and deportation
Cartoons Artists take on international students, the Supreme Court, and more
By The Week US
-
Exploring the three great gardens of Japan
The Week Recommends Beautiful gardens are 'the stuff of Japanese landscape legends'
By The Week UK
-
Mexico extradites 29 cartel figures amid US tariff threat
Speed Read The extradited suspects include Rafael Caro Quintero, long sought after killing a US narcotics agent
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
'Virtual prisons': how tech could let offenders serve time at home
Under The Radar New technology offers opportunities to address the jails crisis but does it 'miss the point'?
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Inside Marseille's deadly drug wars
The Explainer Teenage hitmen recruited through social media are lured by money and gang 'brand'
By The Week UK
-
Europe's drug gangs in the spotlight
The Explainer The illegal narcotics trade is fuelling a surge in gang violence across the continent
By The Week UK
-
Do youth curfews work?
Today's big question Banning unaccompanied children from towns and cities is popular with some voters but is contentious politically
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
Andrew Fahie: the ex-BVI premier, cocaine-filled boats and drug trafficking plot
Under the radar Fahie's defense attorney claimed the British overseas territory leader was 'acting like the fictitious CIA agent Jason Bourne'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
A Mexican cartel is trapping unsuspecting tourists in a timeshare scam
Under the Radar Thousands of people have reportedly fallen victim to the scams over the last few years
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Does decriminalising drugs really work?
Today's Big Question Oregon experiment labelled a 'disaster' but advocates say time is needed to embed reforms after 50 years of the war on drugs
By The Week UK