Cut-price cocaine hits the streets
Wednesday 7th January 2009, 3:00PM GMT.
DRUG dealers are offering cut-price cocaine to try to lure more young people into taking it, according to the Alcohol and Drugs Service.
And Customs are reporting a 468 per cent increase in cocaine seizures, suggesting that the drop in prices is a sign that the drug is readily available in the Island and that misuse is increasing.
Tests on cocaine seized at the borders have also shown that almost 90 per cent of the drug could be mixed with various harmful concoctions such as amphetamines, caffeine, and dog-worming tablets, with the result that users have no idea what they are snorting or injecting.
Now there are major fears that a cocaine epidemic could spread to Jersey as local drug dealers drop their prices to attract younger users. Cocaine – known on the street as coke, charlie or snow – has become more affordable and prices have almost halved, according to the Alcohol and Drugs Service.
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
Travel
To, from and around the Island
Airport Arrivals & Departures
Harbours Arrivals & Departures
Bus Information & Timetables
JOIN US ON...
Facebook and Twitter
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Got a story? Get in touch
GET INVOLVED WITH... KIT 4 CLUBS
Win a share of £10,000
2012 is the year of the London Olympics and to celebrate this great event the Jersey Evening Post, in association with sponsors Ogier is giving all sporting clubs a chance to win a share of £10,000.
This is Jersey
Jersey Evening Post
Useful links
This is natures way of getting rid of the brain deads. It is called Darwinism
Report abuse
What a worry to all parents. As a granmother I wonder what my grandkids will be facing when they enter their teens and come up against peer pressure etc. What is happening to Jersey,it was once considered a safe enviroment for the upbringing of our youngsters, but this is rapidly changing.
Report abuse
Great headline.
Free advertising for the drug pushers and their January sales.
Report abuse
It’s about the only thing going down in price at the moment. No GST as well, bargain!
Report abuse
…and this on the same day that Lily Allen apparently condones cocaine use in a magazine interview.
Shortly before Christmas I found a used syringe with needle outside my work at 9am, took it to the Police as I had hoped that they could get a fingerprint from it, maybe then trace and lock up the user until such time as he revealed his source. But they were not interested, apparently they get this “all the time” and would just put it in their sharps bin…obviously no revenue in arresting drug users, better to keep all the Police on the roads in case someone goes 10mph over the speed limit to obtain a nice hefty fine to top up the coffers.
When I was in my teens hard drug use was a rarity, yet only 17 years on it’s commonplace and seemingly acceptable. Just another of the many bad things we have adopted ‘to bring us into line with the UK’.
Report abuse
It had to happen didn’t it? First heroin, now cheap cocaine, cut with all sorts of carcinogens to eke it out. I have always maintained that soon Jersey will experience the more serious crimes that are associated with the drug culture, guns and violence.
Dealers are the scum of the earth who do not care who they reach or affect or the far reaching consequences of their actions. I am so pleased I am not bringing up children in this day and age.
Lock dealers up and throw away the key so they cannot ply their evil trade.
Report abuse
another fantastic JEP Headline regarding the price of cocaine in jersey….lets worry about thr price of HERION and its relentless addiction had how a small community deals with HERION addiction
Report abuse
Nannie P I agree, but then again look at Jersey over the course of many years now they have let all scum into the Island, now they can’t stop them..So who is too blame..yep you are right Jersey. They Should have placed permits many years ago and I don’t think this would have happened closed the doors to all the scum on this earth, because that is what they are..
Report abuse
Jersey did indeed shut it’s eyes for a long time. not accepting or realising that there was a drug problem or that larger problems were looming. Again 10 years behind the times. Sadly no-one’s child is immune however well enlightened or protected they may be, and that is the scary thing.
Strong sentencing for dealers does not appear to have been a deterrent at all. Perhaps the message that Jersey will not tolerate these people should be promoted quite forcefully, and keep them off the streets for a long, long time. However the old adage ‘where there is a will……..’ will always apply.
Report abuse
Deny them medical attention when they become ill through missuse.
The bodies in the street will be an advert to stop missusing drugs
Report abuse
OK. Jersey really is going down hill.
‘NannieP’: Agreed. I’m only 19 and I’m terrified about my children for the future – if this is Jersey now, what’s it going to be like in 8 years time?
Tobias: Agreed. The police over here are way too busy to be doing anything useful (!).
‘Jsy bean always’: Agreed. They needed to be more careful with who they let into the island – this is something that winds me up. The cause of many of our problems are to do with some of the people they have let into the island.
We, as the people of Jersey, the Jersey Police, the States… are losing control.
Report abuse
Sadly PJG, the users and addicts are the victims, the dealers are at the top of the tree and are usually as clean as a whistle as far as drug use is concerned. They are just profiting out of people’s misery, and yes…..people do have choices, but it is now always as simple as that, and that is why these evil dealers will target children and youngsters. Once hooked and it is a long downwards spiral, and it doesn’t take much to become addicted. As with anything forbidden, in youngsters peer pressure also plays a big part. As before ANYBODY importing/dealing drugs should be incarcerated for a very long time and if not local returned to whence they came at the end of the sentence and never allowed back. Drugs are a scourge of our time.
Report abuse
Can I just remind some of the above that Jersey has bred a few of its own “scum”over the years. The notorious paedophile who terrorised the island during the sixties was a local and I can think immediately of 2 Jersey born men now languishing in English prisons for serious crimes.One was accused of a murder on the island but was not convicted.He then moved to England and was convicted of another murder within a short time.The other man is a serial sex offender who finally got locked up on the mainland.The drug problem has been spreading in Jersey for years and people should accept that the island is not,and in fact never has been,the safe haven from serious crime that some naive people imagine it to be.There are bad people in every society.
Report abuse
JG
your argument is chicken and egg. one begets the other, the seller and the buyer are symbiotic.
until people, children included, are not shielded from the true horrific outcome of substance abuse they will experiment in ignorance. The biggest deterrent to the young starting the downward spiral would be to remove the safety net supplied by taxpayers and the mistaken do gooders, and expose them to the horrific deaths that could await. They must be made aware of the downside to their own choices.
If you take away the buyer the dealer demises. It called market economy.Look at Woolies.
The money saved on nursing them back to health so they can reoffend, or supplying them free of charge with alternative drugs and needles’ could be used in much more deserving causes.
Report abuse
Julie, Yes I agree with you as well- Jersey has bred some bad ones for a want of a word, I have met a few myself, and they are still in and out of prison..but what is being done NOTHING…as usual..That is why now there are not many of us true islanders left on the island anymore they have escaped to better places, a very sad story in fact, once apon a time when i was young the Island was a beautiful place but like all places it has changed..and I still say Jersey should put a cap on who they let into the island, drugs are still getting in, it shows does it not??
I think it is a little too late now..the Island has been ruined..oh and by the way I also left the island many years ago and glad I did when I did…
Report abuse
Totally agree with Julie.
2 brothers who murdered and buried their parents were Jersey boys too, ooh lets pretend it never happened.
To attempt to blame all crime on non Jersey folk is farcical, look at the names in the JEP Police Court, plenty of Jersey folk there.
Xenophobia is alive and well !!
Report abuse
“oh and by the way I also left the island many years ago and glad I did when I did”
‘Jsy bean always’
Contradiction.
Report abuse
PJG Presumably your argument appplies to those addicted to nicotine and alcohol as well. Lots of adverse publicity about those two substances, and people still choose to do it.
Do we withhold medical care from them also and imprison those who sell it? I think not.
Addiction is exactly what it says it is, and it is those who seek to impose it on others for their own evil gain that should be in the first line of fire.
Report abuse
Has anyone ever thought that this whole ‘drugs problem’ might have something to do with people actually wanting to alter their state of consciousness?
The good citizens who relax with a G n T or perk yourself up with a double shot coffee in the morning, or maybe pop a paracetamol to dull the hangover? What are they doing of not ingesting chemicals to do just this?
If folks want to get on their high horses, lets focus on the big killer and wrecker of lives, alcohol. Oh, hang on, that is a massive source of revenue to the states and it is more ‘socially acceptable’.
These evil dealers praying on kids with cheap deals and leading them from cannabis on to cocaine (media fabrication?).. surely we should be campaigning outside spar and checkers – kids can buy a can of shandy there – next stop raging alcoholism?
Perhaps it is time for a different approach to the whole ‘problem’?
Report abuse
I find it quite surprising that people are prepared to snort something that has arrived here in someone else’s bowel.
Report abuse
JG
Yes, good idea you have there, lets include tobacco and alcohol abuse caused illnesses in the list. I gave up smoking 5 years ago I only managed that because I was afraid of dying,those pictures of disected black lungs did work for me. Every so often I check my alcohol consumption and occasionly go dry for a month to check who is in control me or the drug, Ime scared that it will turn me into one of the sorry individuals we see clutching paper bags in the park at 7am when they have been thrown out of the shelter,(a charity keeping them alive).Were it not for these “selfless” adverts on display every morning there would be alot more in the graveyard.If I am going that way I want to know early enough to do something about it “myself”.
Unless you include the poor souls born to mothers addicted while pregnant, no one is born an addict. They become one through choice.
What I am advocating is let that choice be personal informed and made in full recognition of the consequences, not one clouded by if I crash someone else will pick up my pieces for me.
I agree the dealers are despicable, are living on the proceeds of suffering and they do it fully realising what becomes of their customers.
They are driven by profit, The less users there are the less profit there is. Less profit = less dealers =less readily available drugs = less suffering.
Perhaps ime simplifying it too much, but as sure as dogs defecate on the footpath, the current measures are not working.hense the headline we are commenting on ?
Report abuse
And in the same vein as my last post.
The man fencing stolen property gets and deserves a higher penalty than the original thief,
rightly so he is the one making the crime pay and atractive.Were a thief not to make gain why would he commit a crime
Compare this with the dealer and user (not necessarily an addict)Who is the one supplying the money and therefore making the crime attractive and pay ? It is the amount the user is prepared to pay for a drug that is making dealing attractive enough to risk the extremely high penalties we have in Jersey.
Of course another tack may be to legalise drugs as we have with alcohol nicotine prescription drugs etc, that way we can make regulations to control its use. to try and make it socially acceptable.
The vast profits made by the dealers could be taken as taxes and used to help those that have become addicted.
WE do this with alcohol and nicotine but we don’t pillory tobacconists and publicans as vile dealers
As I have said before what we are doing now is not working
Report abuse
How is it that these hard drugs are getting into the Island(s) so easily? Is it because private planes rarely undergo Customs checks!! If Jersey increases dramatically the number of personnel at Customs & Immigration, and ensure that ALL incoming passengers are checked (public and private/sea and air, alike) then surely the problem could be solved virtually overnight?
Report abuse
In My opinion i do not think its a good idea to advertise this news to the island as this it letting people know that this drug is cheaper on the streets now and will most likely make more people go out and buy this as it is more affordable to the public ( 50% off cocaine sale )Not a good advert .
And the same goes for the article about there not being customs down the harbour so its making it easier to smuggle drugs through into the island, i dont think thats a good idea either, as your also letting people who smuggle drugs know that they are most likely not going to get caught! well done news.
Report abuse
Drug smugglers are more aware of when there are Customs officers down at the harbour and airport and who they are likely to search than most States members, general members of the public, journalists or anyone else.
After all it is their ‘business’ to get drugs in!
As for the price of cocaine, I can’t see anyone seeking the stuff out on the grounds it is cheap.
People who take it will know that they can get a bargain already.
Report abuse
I love the whole ‘lets blame the police’ attitude. Fingerprint each needle found, then prosecute the person for using? Grow up people.
Hazard a guess how many needles are found/recycled on a daily basis. Then estimate the cost of employing 3 or 4 (trained) people to forensically examine these hundreds (yes hundred) of needles. Then add the cost to send the prints to Scotland Yard for comparison. In six months – once the backlog has been handled – add the cost of the specialist task force that has had to be set up to prosecute these fools. Then add the cost of all the extra staff needed to cope with the extra court sittings. Subtract the £50 – £100 fine attached to the offense.
The upshot of all this? The police are so busy examining found needles, (of people who will eventually solve the problem for us themselves anyway) that VICTIMS of crime are left to fend for themselves. It’s already happening. Lets not make it worse.
We all love to knock the police. Unfortunately this is not their issue. You have to look at the bigger picture, not the addicts. Deport every single person caught importing drugs. No exceptions. Heavy sentences for dealers – that are actually enforced (not probation due to prison overcrowding). More money on getting the addicts clean. No addicts, no dealers and so on.
How are the drugs getting in??????? Think about the topography of the island for a second. An island with LOTS of unmanned bays and harbours? 1 hour from the French mainland? Do the maths. And customs are so understaffed and under funded (as are the police) that it is physically impossible for them to do their basic job.
To be honest, there is no easy solution to the heroin and cocane epedemic in the islands. The profit margins are SO much higher than the mainland, it’s worth the risk.
I’ve now abandoned the island i was born and raised in, and moved to a better place. It was sad, but a no brainer I’m afraid.
There. Rant over. I’m off for a glass of my legalised drug of choice sat out in the 42C heat
Report abuse
Are people’s lives really so dull that they are easily convinced to take stuff that they know can get them in serious trouble (medically and legally)? Never mind that it’s an unnecessary cost.
Maybe we should do something about sorting out why on earth their lives are so dull.
I had a busy and fun life. Like everyone else there were problems, but I saw it as my own responsibility to make myself happy and didn’t expect anyone else to do it for me. Therefore, I grew up having no inclination whatsoever to poisin myself with mood-altering drugs of any kind. Now as an adult I have an occasional red wine when at my boyfriend’s parents (because first time I met them they had already poured me a glass, I’m not against alcohol, and as it turned out I liked the taste of that particular wine). I still enjoy my life today and I simply don’t need alcohol to do it. And I’ve had plenty of difficulties in my life but that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy.
Caffeine’s not the same type of issue, nor is paracetamol. One can make you more alert and the other take pain away, but you will either be an alert, pain-free angry person or an alert, pain-free happy person depending on what your mood status was before you took them. They are ‘mind-altering’ but not mood-altering.
Report abuse
Did some study not prove once that if you actually crack down on the smallest of crimes, crime-rates overall drop?
Let people away with anything and they will continue to push the boundaries bit by bit (and unfortunately society seems to always cave eventually)… adults today are seeming more like the ‘terrible-twos’ than they are like grown-ups.
Report abuse
Sad to say, this is what our children are open to out there, drink, drugs and pedophiles, what a lovely island this is getting! WELCOME TO ! Shame they dont show the real Jersey when advertising on tv and everywhere else! Even today, Jersey residents now cant afford to live in their homes properly because of the prices of electric & gas, what a lovely island this really is!
Report abuse
This is a direct result of both the failure of the drugs policy (prohibition) and peoples’s desire to experience altered states.
The policy results in a situation where one can buy heroin, cocaine and ecstasy fairly cheaply and easily, whilst cannabis is scarce.
A similar situation occurred in the early to mid 90′s with heroin.
Report abuse
Be thankful that we don’t live in a producer country, run by guerilla groups, helping to continue the cycle of poverty and environmental destruction. Is it cocaine’s fault, or it’s legality?
Report abuse
Chris, I would add to that people being failed by their parents. Parents who don’t even know where their kids are of an evening really need to get their priorities sorted out and start doing some actual parenting, and some of these parents are what would be considered ‘very respectable people’.
When kids are doing drugs and/or getting involved in crime (even petty crime) we need a Government system that stops namby-pambying about and starts forcing parents to take responsibility for the kids that they brought into the world instead of foisting them off on those of us that didn’t choose for them to exist in the first place.
Cracking down on all levels of crime and targeting parents would seem to me to be the way to handle today’s problems.
Report abuse