This is backed up by Home Office research which shows that one person in 20 aged 16

This is backed up by Home Office research, which shows that one person in 20 aged 16 to 24 has used cocaine or crack. There is anecdotal evidence that some dealers are agreeing to provide drugs such as heroin only if clients also buy crack.John Henry, professor of medicine at Imperial College London and former director of the National Poisons Unit, has carried out research showing that around one in three men admitted to A&E departments with chest pains has tested positive for cocaine. Another concern is the lethal cocktail of cocaine and ecstasy followed by Viagra, which makes the heart race dangerously.Police and drug action teams say that cocaine is used across a wider range of social classes than any other drug. Traces of contaminated blood are then passed to others on the straws shared to snort cocaine.There is also medical evidence that cocaine causes the heart to age prematurely and leads to the rupture of blood vessels.

Crack cocaine is the more addictivebut the powder form has been linked to hepatitis C.This is because cocaine addicts get nosebleeds from blowing their noses violently to increase the impact of the drug. A string of celebrities have admitted to using the drug, including Danniella Westbrook, the former EastEnders actress, and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.Despite its image as a “clean” drug, cocaine has been blamed for a rise in crime and anti-social behaviour. There are currently an estimated 475,000 powder cocaine addicts in Britain, and a further 200,000 who take crack cocaine.Cocaine has been seen as the drug of choice for well-paid advertising executives, footballers and people in the media. Some studies have suggested that cocaine can be a factor in suicides because it causes depression by depleting the brain’s serotonin levels.The ONS figures include users of crack cocaine – sold as rocks – as well as those who snort the drug as a powder. Figures are not yet available for 2003 but experts predict the rise in deaths will be even higher.The increase in cocaine abuse contrasts starkly with the fall in deaths among heroin users and a levelling off in the numbers of people dying from ecstasy pills.Experts say the ONS figures for cocaine deaths are an underestimate of the drug’s role in causing strokes and heart attacks. Many deaths go unreported because doctors in accident and emergency departments do not carry out routine tests for the drug when patients are admitted with chest pains. Since 1998, when there were only 66 recorded fatalities, deaths from cocaine poisoning have more than doubled.The findings, based on research from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), may be a fraction of the actual number of deaths caused by cocaine.

Mine host Mustapha thoughtfully supplies orange-blossom water for freshening the fingers after eating with your hands (thumb, index and second fingers, right hand only please).Adam’s Caf?77 Askew Road, London W12, tel: 020 8743 0572 By day it’s just another greasy spoon, but by night, this Shepherd’s Bush favourite transforms into a lively, friendly, family-run Tunisian caf?omplete with tablecloths, candlelight and Arabic music. The cooking is a mix of Tunisian and Moroccan, from fish soup, briks and merguez to the ever popular couscous royale Portions are big, bills are small.. Deaths from cocaine-related overdoses have reached record levels, with an increase of nearly 50 per cent in the numbers of people dying from abuse of the class A drug. No booze, but a gleaming pot of mint tea is perfect after a well-seasoned harira soup, a spicy carrot salad and the mighty couscous royale, served with lamb chicken and merguez sausage.Al Fassia, 27 St Leonards Road, Windsor, Berkshire, tel: 01753 855 370 Windsor might not be the last word in gastronomic exotica, but Al Fassia is deservedly popular for its minced beef briouts, chicken and prune tagines and beef kofta brochettes. And I can’t wait for the next big storewide sale.15 Momo at Selfridges Superbrands 2nd Floor, Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, London W1, tel: 020 7318 3620 (no reservations) Open daily. Around £60 for two, with service and wineScores 1-9 stay home and cook 10-11 needs help 12 ok 13 pleasant enough 14 good 15 very good 16 capable of greatness 17 special, can’t wait to go back 18 highly honourable 19 unique and memorable 20 as good as it getsSecond helpings: Other North African restaurantsMoroccan Tagine, 95 Golborne Road, London W10, tel: 020 8968 8055 What a sweetie: a cheap, cool and casual no-frills caff, Tagine does a roaring trade in several variations of its namesake dish including the house special kofta tagine.

I may have to compare flat-screen televisions after Berber pancakes for breakfast mid-week, and pick out a new tie around the cocktail hour. I’m now planning forays for furniture and fashion on Sundays, cleverly designed around a long, lazy lunch. Momo at Selfridges has achieved the impossible by making me look forward to going shopping in Oxford Street. With its warm mix of cayenne, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and rosebuds, it’s the first curried ice-cream I have ever eaten, and weirdly, it works.But then, everything about this place works far better than I – or even Mazouz – could have imagined. Only the briouat fails to thrill, tasting fishy and strangely seasoned.Overall, the cooking is another level up from the Momo mothership in Mayfair. It is mannered without being too contrived, and has life, punch and freshness.For dessert, Moroccan pastries (£4.50) do what Moroccan pastries do, with their usual honey, sesame seed and sweetness overload, but a super-creamy ras el hanout ice-cream (£4) is a revelation. It is duck ?’orange ?a Casablanca.If you just want to nibble, the Kemia (£8.50) meze platter is the best idea.