Growing threat for drug users A TOP Liverpool drug worker said only a desperate user would snort cocaine in a public toilet. Jacquie Johnston-Lynch has helped hundreds of people beat cocaine and other drugs at Liverpool's pioneering Self-Help Addiction Recovery Programme (Sharp) centre on Rodney Street. She said: "The issue comes when people are taking it outside of social settings. They are using it at work or sitting in the house with the curtains drawn. "Then it is no longer the social drug it has been." She said by then the cocaine user's problem would have transformed their life. Sharp believes more people in Liverpool are taking the drug than ever before. Ms Johnston-Lynch warned: "Cocaine is so much cheaper than it used to be. It used to be seen as the drug of the elite, but now aline of coke can be the price of apint - around £3." She said people used cocaine instead of caffeine to stay awake through long drinking sessions: "The combination of cocaine and alcohol causes a lot of aggression. A lot of city centre violence is caused by cocaine and alcohol." * For information on Sharp's work, call 0151703 0680 COCAINE: THE DANGERS PROLONGED cocaine snorting can result in ulceration of the mucous membranes of the nose and cause the nasal septum to collapse. Injecting the drug puts the user at risk of transmitting or acquiring HIV infection/Aids,and cocaine smokers suffer from acute respiratory problems including severe chest pains with lung trauma and bleeding. The drug is even more addictive when smoked than snorted. High doses of cocaine or prolonged use can trigger paranoia and may lead to seizures and death from respiratory failure, stroke, cerebral haemorrhage, or heart failure. There is no specific antidote for cocaine overdose. Mixing booze and cocaine intensifies the euphoric effects -but also increases the risk of sudden death.
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