Coke Users 'destroying' Rainforest

From America's war on drugs to the Grange Hill Just Say No campaign, attempts to stop people from taking illegal substances have been notable only by their failure.

But now the Colombian government has come up with a novel approach to stopping the abuse of cocaine by warning users that their habit is helping to destroy the Amazon rainforest.

The country's environment minister, Cecilia Rodriguez, told the climate initiatives conference in London that cocaine users are "all harming dramatically the tropical rainforest of the world".

Ms Rodriguez, who appealed for funding to dissuade farmers from growing the drug, said 80% of the world's supply comes from Colombia, and the area of former forest used to grow the drug has quadrupled in the past decade.