ITALY IN TOP FIVE COCAINE CONSUMERS

ITALY IN TOP FIVE COCAINE CONSUMERS

(ANSA) - Brussels, November 5 - Italy is among the top five consumers of cocaine in the European Union, according to a report out Thursday.

The European Drug Observatory said Italy vied with Britain, Spain, Denmark and Ireland in the top group.

It said young adults' cocaine consumption in this quintet rose by 3-5% in the last year whilst elsewhere in the EU it was steady or falling.

According to a July report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Italy has the third highest rate of cocaine consumption in Europe behind the UK and Spain.

The Italian National Research Council (CNR) said in September that the number of casual cocaine users in Italy had more than doubled since 2001.

The greatest rise was in adults from 35 to 44 years old where cocaine use has increased tenfold.

The distribution of cocaine use by profession was ''surprising'' with the self-employed just ahead of shopkeepers, factory workers and company executives but behind the unemployed.

Geographically, CNR said, cocaine use was greatest in regions like Lombardy, Lazio and Liguria with large urban populations.