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I know from experience that cocaine is very widespread and the numbers that the ITN survey quote are more than likely correct (1 in 10 young people have done it) but I must admit that I thought that testing tabletops in random clubs and bars wouldn't show up the 80%+ figures that they found.

I believe that they knew exactly which clubs and bars to test the tables of and therefore got such a high percentage. If they had only done Wetherspoons or All Bar None then they would not have had anything like that percentage.

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The rise in cocaine use doesn't surprise me, but I've been to some pretty iffy places in my time (admittedly nowhere like the sort of clubs you see in American cop shows/films) and have only once seen someone snorting cocaine publicly (in the toilet).

Do these places really exist?

Looks like: fine white powder

Smells like: doesn't really smell of anything.

Simple.

We hired a room in a pub for a b'day party for my parents. It is in a small rural town in the north of England - not a big city.

My sister and I went to the toilet and were surprised to see lots of 'gravel' stuck to the top of the toilet cisterns.
I thought this was some kind of weird design feature - so I commented to the landlord.

He said it was to deter people from using the flat surface to take cocaine.

Was stunned - such a traditional type of pub.

Seems it really is widespread.

Yeah, its like another thread I read where it explained that blue lighting in public toilets is to stop people injecting themselves as they cant see thier veins under the blue light!

It was quite worrying, mabe there IS something in the cleaning products that would come up with a false positive. I wonder what would happen to the swab had it been used in the ITN buildings...

It doesn't seem that long ago tht we learned from the news on tv that coke was 'cheaper to buy than a cup of coffee' so it's no wonder everyone seems to be taking it up as a hobby.

WendyS your post reminded me of a funny story. Back in the 80's I returned to the Luts home one saturday afternoon to find my parents with a face like thunder. It turns out Mum Luts had been putting my eldest (16 at the time) brother's pants away and discovered a clear white bag full of white powder - just like you see it neatly packaged in the movies when the crims get busted by the good guys! By all accounts she called Dad Luts upstairs to inspect this hidden contraband, and in true Dad-who-has-seen-this-in-the-movies style, he bust open the bag, licked his index finger, dipped in the powder then licked it.....the swore like b~ggery and spent half an hour washing his mouth out.

Thing is, it was 1985....lots of teenage boys had their hair highlighted. Some were cheapskates and got a joblot of powdered peroxide bleach, and used to get their mate (junior hairdresser at the time) to come round once a week for a bit of a touch up of said highlights! The 'gear' was stashed to avoid his 13yr old brat brother (me) taking the p!ss !!!!

It still rings a tear to my eye to think of my old man - clearly not a class A drug user - and wondering what on earth he thought it was going to taste like!!!

Slight tangent I know, but seemed relevant! BTW, to answer the question, I'm a 33yr old self employed professional in the home counties, with a wide circle of friends. I would say most of them have done it, but I have not. Why? Beer is my drug of choice, and being of an addictive personality, I dread to think how much I would spend on it if I got caught up in it, so not for me. Bloody addicted to this website as it is.....;-).... So I would say the ITN tests are proabably useful, if not scientifically accurate

does the earlier poster really believe that cocaine is only the reserve of "iffy" clubs? cocaine always used to be a very expensive drug that only the wealthy could afford, often consumed by high-fliers, executives, socialites, toffs etc. now that the price has come down it has become available to the mass market.