COKE IS THE WORD.

Well, religion has fallen away here in Northern Ireland and people no longer turn to God for comfort. They have found a much more convenient, less judgemental alternative.

"Northern Ireland faces a cocaine “epidemic”, after new figures revealed that its use has tripled in just four years. And of even more concern, the figures — compiled by the Drug Use in Ireland and Northern Ireland: 2006/2007 Drug Prevalence Survey — show that five times as many women are now using cocaine compared to 2003. The news comes as over £400m of the drug was seized in a major Garda and Irish armed forces operation on Friday. Security say gthe massive if the massive the haul had not been seized, then a significant amount of the drug would have been smuggled into Northern Ireland.

And the statistics have prompted one Belfast community worker to warn that drug use has now reached epidemic levels and that heroin is now being seen on our streets.

Another drug worker said she has seen a 40% rise in the number of drug users seeking help with their addictions.

The report revealed that more than one in 20 adults in Northern Ireland, between 15 and 64, have used the drug compared with just over 1.5% of the population four years earlier."

Clearly the way to solve this is to legalise cocaine, right?