A CITY in Spain has been blasted for advising residents on how to safely snort cocaine.

It comes after Bilbao’s health department handed out plastic cards, which bore messages reading: “Cut your line well… If it is not well cut, you could damage your nostrils.”

The cards were distributed to people singled out as users or potential users during week-long festivities last month.

Las autoridades de Bilbao están distribuyendo tarjetas para que las personas muelan la cocaína antes de inhalarla https://t.co/7qKywEpJfU pic.twitter.com/zrQmbQ9vdB — TalkingDrugs (@Talkingdrugs) September 14, 2017

“We didn’t hand them out to just anyone,” he said, adding that each recipient was warned about the dangers of drugs.

News of the campaign only came out this week, sparking criticism from the Partido Popular in Bilbao.

The party said it was ‘real nonsense to hand out a kind of consumption ‘kit’ with such a flippant and frivolous message.’

Bilbao’s health boss Yolanda Diez, said the advice only sought to reduce the risks associated with taking cocaine.

A health service spokesman said around a hundred leaflets had been distributed.

Spain has the highest rate of cocaine consumption in Europe after Britain, according to the EU’s 2017 European Drug Report.

The latest figures, compiled for 2015, found 9.1% of Spaniards aged 15-64 had used cocaine in their lifetime.

Within Europe, only Britain posted a higher rate, at 9.7%.