Record Cocaine Deaths and an Ageing User Base Mark Britain's Multibillion-Pound Market

Cocaine has become a common feature of life across Britain, from nightclub toilets to social gatherings, and the harm linked to it is growing. Deaths connected to the drug have reached record levels, and its supply sustains a criminal industry worth billions of pounds. The data points less to millions of new users than to an established market in which some people use more, use more often, and face greater risks as they age.

In June, Home Office scientists published an experimental estimate of cocaine consumption based on sewage samples. It suggested use rose by 26% between 2021 and 2025. People in England were estimated to have consumed 123,000kg of the drug in 2024-25, equivalent to roughly 2.5bn lines, with a street value of about £9.8bn.

Crime survey data tells a different story, with the number of people reporting cocaine use in the past year flat or slightly down since the pandemic. One possible explanation is that a similar or smaller group is taking the drug more frequently. The survey also leaves out homeless people and those in institutions, and some respondents may not admit to illegal drug use. Dr Josh Torrance, a specialist in drug markets, said wastewater analysis can reveal use that surveys miss. After surveying festivalgoers, he said: "People are often not honest about their drug use with strangers." He cautioned that the sewage estimates carry wide margins of error, but said the overall direction is broadly accurate.

For several years cocaine was getting cheaper. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said wholesale prices fell below pre-pandemic levels in 2022 and hit "historically low levels" in 2025, though it has seen signs of a rise in 2026. Torrance tracks advertised prices for an ounce from a pool of vendors. He found the figure dropped from about £1,300 in March 2022 to about £1,000 by August 2023, and was around £700 when he resumed collecting data in September 2025. It rose to roughly £800 in June, reached £1,000 in July and eased to about £950 by September. "I've never seen such a quick increase in the price of cocaine," he said, suspecting a supply disruption while noting the cause is hard to pin down.

Purity adds to the danger. Torrance said cocaine sold as "pure" is often 70-80% pure, while a more diluted tier, sometimes marketed as "social cocaine", may be about 60%. The NCA said wholesale purity has stayed high in recent years. In Torrance's view, "a reduced price drives up use. With increased use and increased purity, you end up with more deaths."

The typical user is getting older. Crime survey data, while subject to caveats, shows younger people remain the most likely to use cocaine, but use is falling among them and rising among older age groups. In England, 33,612 people began treatment for cocaine problems in 2024-25, up 57% from 2019-20. People in their 30s were the largest group seeking help, whereas ten years earlier it was those in their 20s. "We've seen a cohort of cocaine users age and continue to use cocaine," Torrance said.

Figures gathered by the Guardian from 39 police forces show a 10% rise in recorded crimes mentioning cocaine since 2019. Police logged almost 30,000 such crimes in 2025. Most were drug offences, but 18% were violent crimes, including stalking and harassment and one murder case, and about 4% were sexual offences, including 344 rapes. A mention of cocaine in a police record does not prove the drug was used. Separately, Home Office figures indicate nearly six in 10 police drug tests on people arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse between July 2025 and June this year were positive for cocaine.

A record number of people are now dying from cocaine use in England and Wales, with the rise driven mainly by older people. More than half of cocaine deaths registered last year involved someone over 40. Torrance said acute overdose deaths often involve cardiac problems, and the effects of long-term use add to the risk. An independent report last year found the UK lacked a coordinated drug prevention strategy with dedicated funding. "One reason cocaine deaths have risen so dramatically over the last five to 10 years is that we didn't invest in upstream prevention," Torrance said, adding that earlier drug education and helping at-risk people engage with services would reduce problems decades down the line.