Unwelcome legacy of boom years
Steve Boggan finds that the lure of cocaine remains strong in the City
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Your support makes all the difference.The Porsches have been traded in for something more modest and the word "yuppie" already seems an anachronism, but Monday's drugs raid on London's International Financial Futures Exchange shows that some hangovers from the Eighties are still with us.
Drug abuse was a side effect of what came to be glibly known as the champagne lifestyle of many of the City's financial whizzkids.
Along with the car, Docklands apartment and designer clothes, one drug in particular seemed to complete the illusion of fast money and fast living; cocaine.
While most of the other trappings of success fell away - as did the numbers employed in the City - there is evidence that some drug abuse still continues.
"It does go on," said one LIFFE trader yesterday. "Everyone is worried about stress levels and drug abuse. It is always prevalent among rich young people.
"Most of the people on the LIFFE trading floor are not exactly your high intellectuals. They are not doing a very complicated job although it is is very stressful, but they make a fuck of a lot of money. Let's be honest, some spend it on tarts and booze and drugs."
Cocaine became the favoured drug for two reasons: At between pounds 40 and pounds 60 a gramme the user has to be relatively affluent to buy it; and the speedy feeling of well-being and self confidence it fosters fits in with the lifestyle.
"It has a lot to do with the fact that in the City there is often an excess of funds," said Paul McDonald, a psychologist at the Charter Nightingale hospital in north London, a private clinic which has treated many of the City's drug abusers.
"It is not uncommon at all for us to treat people from the City who are in dire straits financially, emotionally and professionally. Some start to take cocaine recreationally and leave it at that. But for others, regular use changes the meaning of the drug and it becomes problematical."
Treatment - usually paid for by the employee but sometimes covered by medical insurance - costs pounds 2,800 a week and can often continue for periods of three or four weeks.
One user, who kicked the habit, said: "At first it seemed like a fun thing to do. Everything was going well and I had lots of money and the rush the drug gave me felt wonderful.
"Then I found I couldn't enjoy myself without it and would take it midweek, which meant sleep was out. So, in order to kick-start myself in the morning, I'd have a line. Then, as the day progressed, I needed more to keep going and stay on my toes to do the job."
"There were times when I was getting through two grammes a day - that's pounds 100. So I started buying it in larger quantities uncut from my dealer and began supplying my friends."
He finally sought treatment when a personnel officer recognised the signs of weight loss, anxiety and personality change. "If it hadn't been for him, I doubt I'd be alive today."
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