Cocaine doubles in London in the last seven years with users taking equivalent of 150,000 hits a day

  • Britain's cocaine crisis has been exposed in Channel 5 documentary that reveals extent of drug use in London
  • Scientists visit a sewage treatment plant to test wastewater that has come directly from flushed toilets
  • Like a drug test for an entire city, it reveals up to 7.5 kilos of the drug is being consumed every day
  • The documentary, 'Cocaine: Teen Dealers' also meets regular users, teenage drug dealers and the gangsters enforcing the supply across Britain

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Britain's cocaine crisis has been exposed in a new documentary that reveals 7.5 kilos of the Class A drug is being consumed every single day in London.

Scientists for Channel 5 documentary 'Cocaine: Teen Dealers', visited a sewage treatment plant in the capital to test wastewater that had come directly from flushed toilets.

Like a drug test for an entire city, they analysed the results, taken on a Monday morning in Janaury, to show just how much cocaine is being snorted by users.

Dr Leon Barron, lecturer in forensic science from Kings College London, told the programme: 'If somebody takes a drug, once it passes through the body, it's flushed into a our sewage network from our toilets.

'Effectively a sewage treatment works allows us to get a real time snap shot of what London's doing in a 24 hour period. 

'The residual amounts of cocaine in the body, and some of its other metabolytes enter the wastewater. We can take a representative sample of several million people within a city.' 

The data showed a huge spike in the detection of cocaine for that day, and if used as an individuals urine sample, the result would stand up in court as proof of cocaine use.

It was said to work out at about 7.5kilos of cocaine being consumed a day, that is the equivalent of a street value of £300,000.  

The programme meets some of the regular users of the drug, including Alex and Fiona, who are settling down to watch a film - while snorting lines of cocaine

The programme meets some of the regular users of the drug, including Alex and Fiona, who are settling down to watch a film - while snorting lines of cocaine

Alex, right, says: 'Some people come home from work and crack open a bottle of Beaujolais, we are sat here and sniff a gram, watch a bit of telly'

Alex, right, says: 'Some people come home from work and crack open a bottle of Beaujolais, we are sat here and sniff a gram, watch a bit of telly'

Dr Barron, one of a handful of scientists who can use wastewater to find traces of cocaine, added: 'We've done an analysis of wastewater every year since 2011 in conjunction with many other labs across Europe, and in that time there's been a little over twofold rise in cocaine use. 

'In 2016, the data was around nine hundred milligrams of cocaine per thousand people per day, and if you put that into context of London with a population of about 8.6 million people that corresponds to about… a little over 150,000 doses of cocaine per day in London.' 

The programme meets some of the regular users of the drug, including Alex and Fiona, who are settling down to watch a film - while snorting lines of cocaine.

A drugs enforcer, called Shaun is interviewed, and holding a revolver in one hand, he tells how he ensures any drug debts are settled in time

A drugs enforcer, called Shaun is interviewed, and holding a revolver in one hand, he tells how he ensures any drug debts are settled in time

Shaun, who works with a supplier called Grant, who operates out of a family home in the West Midland, holds up a bullet to show the threats he uses to get his money

Shaun, who works with a supplier called Grant, who operates out of a family home in the West Midland, holds up a bullet to show the threats he uses to get his money

Teen dealers Alfie and Liam, who sell drugs to their 17-year-old friends

Teen dealers Alfie and Liam, who sell drugs to their 17-year-old friends

The couple see it as just the same as drinking a bottle of wine, and say they have no plans to ever give it up.

Alex says: 'I've alinged myself with a dealer that is happy just to deliver it my door. And at the weekend I just tally up with him, like paying my rent or my gas bill.

'Some people come home from work and crack open a bottle of Beaujolais, we are sat here and sniff a gram, watch a bit of telly.

'This is what we do to chill out. We do all the things that families do.

Teen dealer Alfie
Dr Leon Barron

Teen dealer Alfie (left) says he is called by 'so many people phoning me for cocaine' including teachers. Dr Leon Barron, (right) carried out the lab test for the show

Dr Barron says they have done analysis of wastewater every year since 2011 and found in that time that there's been over a twofold rise in cocaine use

Dr Barron says they have done analysis of wastewater every year since 2011 and found in that time that there's been over a twofold rise in cocaine use

'This is just our way of blowing off some steam. We don't see any harm in it.'

The documentary also follows a number of teen teens dealers and how they supply the drugs to their friends, with one duo telling how they use the social media app Snapchat to carry out business deals because of its privacy.

Sixth form students Dan and Sam sell the drug to their friends and fellow sixth formers in north London, and treat it as an alternative to a Saturday job.   

They tell the show they 'easily clear £200 a night' and buy their drugs from the dark web, adding: 'This is a hobby, No one has ever been hurt by what we have done. 

'We use Snapchat. If anyone looks through your phone, its not there. The pictures aren't saved. Our age uses Snapchat. It's ideal.'

Sixth formers Dan and Sam, who sell the drug to their friends and fellow sixth formers in north London, say they treat it as an alternative to a Saturday job

Sixth formers Dan and Sam, who sell the drug to their friends and fellow sixth formers in north London, say they treat it as an alternative to a Saturday job

Dr Adam Winstock, Head of Global Drugs Survey, tells the documentary that cocaine now 'crosses all sorts of cultures and economic classes'

Dr Adam Winstock, Head of Global Drugs Survey, tells the documentary that cocaine now 'crosses all sorts of cultures and economic classes'

Dealer Duo Alfie and Liam also deal drugs to their 17-year-old friends. 

Alfie says he has 'so many people phoning me for cocaine' and adds: 'I have had school teachers ring me, day to day. 

'Everyone you wouldn't expect to do it are doing it. Everyone's doing it.'

Gangsters with guns are still pulling the strings however, and the programme interviews supplier Grant, who operates from his family home in the West Midlands, and a drug enforcer called Shaun, who ensures bills are paid by their network of dealers.

Holding a revolver in one hand, he says: 'I guarantee all bills are paid. Violence is a last resort.

'If you are fair with people, they will be fair to you.' 

Dr Adam Winstock, Head of Global Drugs Survey, tells the documentary: 'Cocaine crosses all sorts of cultures and economic classes. 

'You've got your young people who are going out partying, and people in their 30s 40s and 50s who are doing it as part of going out to the pub. 

'Cocaine is not fussy about who uses, and the use and access to it is so simple, it doesn't take much planning.'

Cocaine: Teen Dealers is on tonight, 10pm on Channel 5.