Jason Bennetto (Extracted from "Welcome to cracktown hundreds of users, and 'party bags' on sale for £10", The Independent, 4 November 2005)

"The Derbyshire town of Ilkeston, deep in the English heartland, gives the impression of being a placid, predictable sort of place. . . . So when police investigated this former mining town as part of a Derbyshire-wide drugs study, they were shocked at what they discovered. . . . The extraordinary police figures revealed to The Independent suggest there are 240 crack users in Ilkeston, out of a town population of 15,000. Crack has been sold in the town's streets at the bargain price of three "rocks" for £10. . . .When seven dealers were recently arrested, others quickly took up the reins."

[Ed If alcohol or nicotine were introduced de novo into modern society we can be sure that legislation would be quickly passed against them. Their effects among a minority of abusers are far more serious than those of hard drugs -- as any expert or volunteer helper will attest. But this cannot be done now because too many commercial interests and jobs depend upon their widespread sale. Similarly, though perversely, cocaine and heroin has also created so many jobs -- in the police, customs, social services, the legal system, withdrawal clinics for the rich, etc -- that legislation against their use cannot possibly be repealed yet. All this, despite the fact that the use of cocaine and heroin -- less addictive than alcohol or nicotine -- runs down from royalty and all through our school systems to the lowest of the underclass, with far more individuals treating them as experiential or recreational drugs than becoming addicted.]