‘My beautiful sister died after doing a line of cocaine – we must stop glorifying drug use’
“You see the glamor, the fast cars, the excitement, but you never see the young people on their deathbeds, the children living with addicted parents.”
For Stacey Jordan, whose sister Lucy died eight years ago after taking cocaine, the pain of witnessing drug use in social settings, festivals and nights out never goes away.
While cocaine consumption in the UK has increased by a quarter in five years according to the latest government data, use is often normalized in certain scenarios and glorified in popular culture through television and film.
But with a sharp increase in availability and purity, as revealed in a study IndependentThe number of deaths from cocaine has increased for 13 years, reaching 1,279 in 2024.
For Stacey, it’s time for people to talk about this issue more.
In the summer of 2018, the 36-year-old woman received a call that her sister was in a coma in the hospital after a dose of cocaine triggered a heart attack. He rushed to her bedside and said only that 24-year-old Lucy looked unrecognizable. He died weeks later.
“I refuse to let my beautiful sister become another drug-related death, another home run,” Stacey said. Independent.
“She was not a drug addict, she was a normal young woman who was happy and had big plans for her future. Her death shows that cocaine can affect anyone and I am determined to show this to prevent others from experiencing the tragedy I faced.”
Stacey said Lucy was a “beautiful, lively” university student in her third year studying criminology at Bristol and had plans to travel and help criminals in the future.
Stacey said she first used drugs after getting mixed up with the wrong crowd due to her mother’s addiction, but returned to work after getting clean. He volunteered with the Bristol Drug Project and helped other users kick their addictions.
But a few months after he started using drugs again, he was kicked out of his student house, isolated from friends and family, and later found lying face down on a couch in a drug store, having a heart attack.
“I always ask myself, was there more I could have done?” says Stacey. “But it all seemed to happen so quickly, and the phone call came out of nowhere.”
Now Stacey shares her story to help others and prevent more deaths, mostly through a social media group called Live for Lucy.
But he admits it’s difficult, given the ubiquity of cocaine use.
“You hear a comedian on a show talking about cocaine use and everyone laughs,” he says. “But to me it’s not funny at all. It’s like someone in a football team’s WhatsApp group posting a series of cocaine-related holiday photos and everyone responds with a laugh.”
“People distract from talking about it, using it, from the harm it causes. When people talk about it, I don’t see my life represented. Instead, you see entertainment, drama, to the point of glorification. This has to change.”
A 10-year drugs strategy has been launched under the Conservatives, with an additional £523 million invested in improving drug and alcohol treatment services.
“We need better education for young people,” he says. “If you ask a group of people at an event like the Cheltenham Festival what the dangers of taking drugs are, I’m not sure they can tell you exactly.
“But then, if you talk to anyone who’s considering Botox and has probably researched it and evaluated its side effects, they’ll be able to tell you that. There should be no difference. We’re calling out to leaders on this.”
Earlier this month, on the anniversary of Lucy’s death, Stacey went on holiday, as she does every year.
He treasures his sister’s lock of hair and her handprint, and is proud to have completed many “bucket list” challenges for her, from a 10km race to skydiving.
“If anyone who was considering taking cocaine had heard my sister’s tragic story, it would have changed so many lives,” he says.
