I’m sickened by the middle-class mums using cocaine. I’ve seen their appalling behaviour. They should hang their heads in shame: CLARE FOGES

A basement snooker club in Bristol in the late 1990s. I was a student in my late teens. My friend drunkenly grabbed my hand and pulled me into the filthy toilet stall.

Did he want to borrow my eyeliner? Gossiping about someone she likes? No. A small bag of white powder came out and he waved it clumsily over the closed toilet seat (a surface that had been untouched by a Dettol wipe for some time).

He handed me a folded £10 note to insert into my nostril. I remember holding this DIY straw, one of the late Queen’s eyes staring back at me, and thinking I should try some.

Wasn’t cocaine synonymous with fun and decadence? Could a glorious Gatsby-like life begin with a little white streak in this swamp?

Then I examined the scene. Graffiti, dirt, my friend Henry, kneeling on the floor, was sucking in the smell with all the gusto of his vacuum cleaner. It reminded me of something from Trainspotting and a line from that movie came to mind: ‘Choose life.’

I muttered my excuses and walked back to the bar.

A decision I have never regretted. I observed a lot of cocaine use in my 20s: friends snickering in a pack as I walked to the nightclub toilet; furtive whispers at parties that mean the salesman is on his way.

In one disturbing incident, a roommate I barely knew shouted lines next to me on the couch while watching the TV series 24. Was it exciting enough to watch Kiefer Sutherland running around with a gun?

Although it always seemed quite pathetic – all this unnatural, relentless chatter – it could somehow be excused on the grounds that they were young and didn’t know any better.

But what’s surprising these days is that cocaine use has become middle-aged, middle-class and mainstream.

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows the middle classes are driving demand for medicines, with four per cent of people with household incomes above £52,000 taking a Class A drug in the last year. (Lower earners are more likely to consume Class B and C drugs such as ketamine and marijuana.)

This was only further confirmed this week when The Economist (the stuff read by university professors and city financiers) declared that cocaine should be legalized to ‘eliminate the price rise that motivates the world’s most violent criminals’.

Zack Polanski, the new leader of the Green Party, agrees. His party wants cocaine to be sold legally. Such an action might lead us to see bags of drugs next to cigarettes behind the supermarket counter; millions gleefully gleefully walk away in a kind of blameless, blameless, live-and-let-live nirvana.

The legalization drive will no doubt be welcomed by wealthy users who recklessly seek out drugs like Deliveroo.

At dinner parties in West London, mums’ wine nights in the states, weddings in the Cotswolds, those who should know better continue to enjoy Peruvian flavors well into their 50s and 60s.

This has become as acceptable as drinking a glass of Sauvignon blanc; It’s such a normal activity that a mom recently joked with me that weekend “tuff” was the key to maintaining her sanity.

Green Party’s new leader, Zack Polanski, wants cocaine to be sold legally

But cocaine use should be a source of great shame; This is doubly embarrassing for all middle class users who are increasingly signaling how socially responsible they are.

The same people who wouldn’t be seen dead using a disposable carrier bag perpetuate an industry that literally enslaves children and has young people stabbed to death for stepping into another gang’s territory.

The same people who proudly buy Fair Trade coffee and tea to support those in developing countries support an industry in which poor people around the world are tortured, raped and murdered at the whims of bloodthirsty cartels.

The hypocrisy is staggering. Blood trails lead directly from South America to the suburban gate; here the ‘friendly’ local vendor drops some gak to liven up the last hour of the evening.

This is an industry that is currently causing youth stabbings, shootings and sexual abuse within the country. While abroad, he causes sadistic crimes that cannot be printed for profit. And it’s all because of demand from professionals in their 40s and 50s who enjoy a bit of cheeky Charlie on the weekends.

Most people cannot be blind to this misery or the part they play in it. Therefore, in order to maintain the moral superiority, they accuse legislators of not complying with the program and not legalizing it. It’s not their fault they’re enriching a vile trade, it’s the Government’s, okay?

The pro-legalization brigade argues that we can stop drug-related misery by ending the criminality around it. Take the power out of the hands of drug dealers, Let the Government regulate and tax drugs like cigarettes and alcohol.

It sounds very simple; until you look at the countries around the world where they have legalized or decriminalized.

Take Portugal, which decriminalized most drugs a quarter century ago. A recent report from the (normally fairly liberal) Washington Post described Lisbon as follows: ‘Addiction lurks in the recesses of this ancient port city; people with skinny, clumsy hands lift crack pipes to their lips, syringes into their veins…’

Take the so-called liberal paradise of Amsterdam, where locals are so fed up with the terrifying weed zombies roaming the streets that authorities have banned smoking pot in and around the famous red light district.

Or go to parts of the United States like San Francisco or Portland, Oregon, where liberal laws have led to increased drug use, increased overdoses, and increased rates of violent crime and theft.

In the first year after Oregon decriminalized most drug use, opioid deaths in the state increased by almost 30 percent. Cocaine is the most addictive drug in existence. Legalizing this would be a disaster; It’s a guarantee that more people will start using it and more lives will be ruined.

Will the gangs who make millions from this give up and become florists or postmen? Or would they find new ways to produce cheaper, harder drugs to attract punters?

Instead of legalizing cocaine, we should go in the opposite direction, waging a campaign to stigmatize and incite those who drive this trade. Middle-class users should have no doubt that they are sponsoring violence, destruction and misery, rather than being a guilt-free treat to enjoy after the cheese plate at candlelit dinner parties. Shame on them.

You’ll regret the toilet scene, Molly.

Stunning Molly-Mae Hague’s new documentary includes scenes of her struggling with her two-year-old daughter Bambi, who refuses to sit on the potty.

I understand that MM wants to be ‘relatable’ and show the unfiltered truth about motherhood, but I fear she may regret giving away so much information about her toddler.

What will 25-year-old Bambi think about footage of her bath time remaining on the internet forever?

Green-fingered purists will be outraged by the growing popularity of fake plants for lazy gardeners.

I must admit that I was examining the rubbery bushes myself. Yes, the bees won’t like it, but without my pretense, my garden looks like a place where everything comes to death. Forgive me, Monty Don!

Let’s give the York brothers a break…

While Prince Andrew and Fergie’s alleged behavior is appalling, can we give Beatrice and Eugenie a break?

Apart from their royal appearance, it is also mentioned that they are frozen. But why?

They look like decent and innocent young women. In this newspaper, Prince Andrew’s biographer Andrew Lownie reported that both had received counseling to deal with their parents’ various misdeeds.

Surely they’ve been through enough? The Bible tells us, ‘The son shall not bear the sins of his father.’ The same should be true for girls.

Goodbye Pizza Hut heaven

The decline of some brands hits harder than others, and it was heartbreaking for me to learn that dozens of Pizza Huts would be closing, bringing back nostalgic memories of all-you-can-eat Margheritas and bowls overflowing from the ice cream machine.

For a child, this was a near-heavenly experience. Farewell, cheese-filled crust palace of dreams.