A spike in cocaine use was caused by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, drug workers have said.
The number of in-person Cocaine Anonymous meetings has soared by more than 800 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
Volunteers with the group and a charity worker have said lockdowns contributed to a rise in cocaine abuse, due to the isolation many felt.
Experts say it is impossible to calculate exactly how much cocaine use rose due to how data is collected and whether or not people seek help.
The Cocaine Anonymous Scotland website shows there were a total of 15 meetings in Scotland between August and September 2021.
That figure increased to 123 meetings scheduled between the same two months this year – a rise of 819 per cent.
One Cocaine Anonymous Scotland volunteer said: “From what I’ve seen, lockdown definitely played a part.
“There are other factors involved, of course, but people were sitting in their houses, twiddling their thumbs and furloughed.
“They had disposable income which they weren’t spending as they had nowhere to go and they began using more.”
Another of the group’s volunteers said: “A lot of new people I have seen coming through seeking help have said they either started using or ramped up their consumption during lockdown.”
Jan Mayor is practice and innovation lead for alcohol and other drugs at charity Turning Point Scotland, which helps drug users in Glasgow on behalf of Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership.
She said: “Cocaine use almost certainly is up but we don’t know exact numbers.
“We know a little bit about how some people’s drinking went up during lockdown and it’s a very similar thing.
“If people are anxious, lonely, bored or worried about money and the future then any drug, whether it’s alcohol or cocaine, will take those feelings away.
“They then get dependent and that’s what drives problematic use. In Scotland, we have fewer people going in to get help with their drug use than in other countries.
“So if we estimate the amount of people who are using drugs problematically, we think only about one third to 40 per cent are in touch with services.
“We know that a lot of people who regularly use cocaine tend not to come to services.
“There’s all sorts of reasons for that and the main one in Scotland is that we have a lot of stigmatising attitudes towards drug use, and that puts people off getting help.”
Jan believes even more Scots could be driven to drug abuse as they struggle to cope with the cost-of-living crisis.
She added: “People use drugs to gain some kind of buzz or to take away some unpleasant experience. It becomes problematic more when it’s the latter, when it’s taking away something nasty or making you feel better about your life.
“Which is one of the reasons why we get more problematic use in areas of higher deprivation, because there’s more horrid stuff in your life.”
One user, who also asked to remain anonymous, said: “I had taken it a few times on nights out with friends but had never got any for myself. I was furloughed during the pandemic and bored and decided to get some one night.
“I started taking more and more while drinking and, before I knew it, the drinking had stopped and I was using most days.
“It wasn’t until a friend noticed that I realised how bad it was and now I’m trying to get help.”
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