Drugs use 'morally irresponsible'

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The ethical implications of cocaine abuse are being highlighted in a police campaign targeting festival-goers.

Revellers are being urged to boycott the class A drug because of its impact on people involved in its production and trafficking.

A spokesman for the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) said middle-class cocaine users were "morally irresponsible".

The agency will promote its message at this weekend's T in the Park festival.

Posters will be placed across the festival site at Balado in Perthshire.

The initiative is based on fair trade campaigns for goods from developing countries, which call on consumers to consider the origin and methods of production of goods such as coffee and tea.

People who use cocaine should think about the consequences of how this drug is delivered to Scotland. It's morally and politically irresponsible Det Supt Willie MacColl

Det Supt Willie MacColl, the SCDEA's national drugs co-ordinator, said: "People boycott disposable nappies, choose organic vegetables and fair trade goods such as coffee but these same people think nothing of having a line of cocaine that's caused immeasurable harm."

The anti-drugs agency claims there are 18,000 murders a year in Colombia - 50 each day - associated with drug trafficking.

Unicef published a report in 2006, "Children in the Coca Areas", which highlighted the plight of children involved in the coca trade and exposed poverty and violence.

The report told of "an army of children and adolescents" being used to produce the drug, exposing them to poverty and violence as well as abuse and rape.

The agency plan to promote their campaign using posters

Vulnerable people are coerced into becoming drug "mules", risking imprisonment or even death as they try to smuggle packages of cocaine inside their bodies.

Couriers may swallow up to a kilo of cocaine, and one ruptured package mid-air would lead to a certain and painful death.

Det Supt MacColl said: "Children are mercilessly exploited and thousands of people murdered in the horrendous violence connected with the production of cocaine.

"People who use cocaine should think about the consequences of how this drug is delivered to Scotland. It's morally and politically irresponsible.

He added: "If people were truly socially and morally aware of their lifestyle choices, they would never take cocaine."

Tayside police said cocaine had gained a foothold among "ordinary people" as well as the chaotic or problem drug users whereas it was previously seen as the drug of the rich and famous.

By many, it is often seen as a 'clean' and a more respectable drug as it can be snorted and need not be injected like heroin, although the effects and dependence can be catastrophic.