Two hours gaming = a line of cocaine

Just one day after claims linking video games to sleeplessness emerged, Lancashire based therapist Steve Pope has made some of the most bewildering accusations yet about the possible harmful effects of gaming.

Spending two hours on a game station is equivalent to taking a line of cocaine in the high it produces in the brain," Pope told BBC Radio 5Live in an interview last night. It’s the silent killer of our generation.

We’re now onto second generation game station players who have always grown up with it. Computer game addiction can also spiral into violence as after playing violent games, they may turn their fantasy games into reality.

"It is the fastest growing addiction in the country and this is affecting young people mentally and physically."

Describing his campaign against gaming as a "personal quest to spread the message", Pope urged any parents listening to the broadcast to "go upstairs to your kids bedroom and try and take the game station controller out of their hands".

He said most kids will react "in the same way as an alcoholic would if you tried to take their booze – it’s scary".

Of the sleeplessness scandal, Pope claimed that kids who stay up late playing titles such as Call of Duty are unable to concentrate the next morning "because of the endorphin high in their brains" that leads to a "chemical imbalance" that disturbs behaviour and learning.