3:43pm UK, Wednesday March 01, 2006

The level of cocaine use in the UK is as high as in the US, according to an international report.

180-Cocaine drugs generic

Cocaine use is increasing

For the first time Britons are rivalling Americans in the amount of coke they are taking, the International Narcotics Control Board's annual report said.

The organisation found 2% of the UK's population had used cocaine.

Britons are also among the greatest users of cannabis in Europe.

Only Ireland, Czech Republic, France and Switzerland compare, the report found.

INCB president Professor Hamid Ghodse said downgrading cannabis in Britain had been a mistake.

But cocaine and cannabis use may soon be overtaken by Methamphetamine.

The use of so-called "crystal meths" has become of greater concern in the US than heroin or cocaine, the organisation warns.

The synthetic drug has reportedly become a "pandemic" and is gaining sway in dance cultures across the world.