A hospital consultant is warning using cocaine just once can be enough to kill you.

Fergal Hickey was responding to a report showing that Ireland has one of the highest rates of cocaine use in Europe.

The study from Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) says Ireland is among a small group of countries where use of the drug is still classed as relatively high.

The report says that the consumer market for cocaine among young adults is characterised "by relatively high
prevalence in a handful of countries: Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland and Denmark".

It adds that these countries alone account for 1.7 million (or 62 %) of the estimated 2.7 million users 'in the last 12 months' in the 15-34 age group.

It says there are prevalence levels of between 2.6% and 4.4%.

1,000 tonnes destined for Europe

At the other end of the spectrum, some East European countries - Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Greece - see the amount of use at 0.5% or less.

This suggests - the report says - relatively small markets for cocaine which could in part be explained by the historical
predominance of alternative stimulants and the recent arrival of the drug in these countries

More generally the EMCDDA says that a significant proportion of the global cocaine output is now destined for Europe.

Available estimates suggest an overall yearly production of pure cocaine over the last decade, at between 800 and 1,000 tonnes - while interceptions of the drug in Europe are now also relatively stable.

Fergal Hickey is a consultant in emergency medicine at Sligo Regional Hospital.

He says part of the problem is the image of cocaine as a middle class drug and he has seen the fallout from the drug first-hand.

He spoke to Breakfast here on Newstalk.