James Brokenshire, the Shadow Home Office Minister, has reacted to new figures showing that growing numbers of children are being treated for cocaine addiction.
"This depressing report bears out the evidence of the UK being the cocaine capital of Europe", he said. "It is particularly disturbing that so many young people are in need of treatment for their addiction".
The figures were released by the the National Treatment Agency in England. A previous report, by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction, revealed that the UK has the highest proportion of cocaine use amongst adults and 15 and 16 year olds.
"There is some irony that this report comes in the wake of the closure of Middlegate Lodge which was the only specialist teenage residential drug rehab centre in the country", Brokenshire added.
"It highlights that the current system just isn’t working. We simply can’t go on with the same approach."