YEP Says: Shining a light on an unglamorous drugs habit

One of the drug testing wipes which turned blue after coming into contact with traces of cocaine.

THE COCAINE swab tests carried out by our journalists around Leeds brought many postitive results around our city's public buildings.

The findings may not surprise some, but will shock many others.

Toilet areas, by their nature, places where people can expect privacy. So where buildings are open to the public, it can both costly and very difficult, to police what goes on in those most private of public spaces.

Perhaps what our survey shows, above all else, is the widespread use of a Class A drug across our city.

We wonder who would be popping into City Hall to snort a line of coke?

If we’re honest cocaine does not have the “grubbier” connotations of other drugs - heroin, skunk, spice etc - it’s the A-list celebrity of the drugs world.

But it is a class A drug for a reason, and there’s been many a “celebrity” whose star no longer shines because of it.

Buying and selling cocaine still fuels the same dark and murky drugs economy that exists for other drugs.

It costs lives, directly and indirectly and it ruins lives directly and indirectly.

The survey shines a light into the darker corners of cocaine use, it’s not a problem on which we can shut the toilet door. Out of sight should not mean out of mind.