Use of the drug is surging in the UK – with alarming consequences
How much cocaine is Britain taking?
More than ever before. The UK is now the largest consumer of cocaine per capita in Europe, and the second largest in the world (behind Australia), according to a 2023 report by the OECD, which suggests 2.7% of adults aged 15 to 64 take the drug at least once a year. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that use is a little lower than that, with 2.4% of 16- to 59-year-olds in England and Wales using powdered cocaine. It is the second most popular drug, after cannabis (a much smaller proportion use crack cocaine, a crystal form which is smoked, not snorted or injected). The National Crime Agency estimated in 2019 that England, Scotland and Wales consume 117 tonnes of the drug per year – enough to "fill a football stadium", according to The Times. Analysis of wastewater suggests that consumption grew by 7% between 2023 and 2024.
What's behind the increase?
The biggest single factor seems to be its affordability. Cocaine – also known variously as charlie, chisel, blow, sniff and bugle – is mostly used recreationally (as opposed to by addicts). And while the price of alcohol has soared in recent years, cocaine has become much cheaper: pre-2020, a gram of cocaine would typically cost about £100; today, it is sold for as little as £50. It's also readily available. In many areas of Britain, the drug can now be ordered as easily as a takeaway pizza: if you want to get hold of it, you can quickly do so via social media; dealers use combinations of emojis (snowflakes and snowmen, for instance) to offer it for sale.
Why have prices fallen?
Because of a massive boom in supply. Global cocaine production has more than doubled since 2014. In Colombia, the world's largest cocaine-producing country, the area of land dedicated to the cultivation of coca leaves is now thought to be four times greater than it was in 2014, covering more than 620,000 acres (Mexican crime groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel are increasingly involved at ground level, paying farmers in advance and encouraging cultivation of productive strains). Production has also soared in other major cocaine-producing nations, such as Peru and Bolivia. The cartels have targeted the European market, knowing that they can charge far higher prices here than they can back home: a kilo of cocaine bought for $1,000 in Colombia is worth perhaps €35,000 in Europe. Once this reaches the UK, it's mostly sold on the street for cash, which helps to keep price inflation low: it generally rises only in £10 increments.
Who's using it?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's mostly young people: according to the ONS, 3.8% of 16- to 24-year-olds took the drug in the year ending March 2024, compared with 2.1% of people aged 16-59. But cocaine appears to have shed its association with City slickers, yuppies and expensive nightclubs; it's now the drug of choice for many match-going football fans, and has even found its way on to the parliamentary estate. The trend has prompted some experts to suggest that cocaine has become a "working-class narcotic", used by "builders, plumbers, joiners, whoever"; anecdotally, workers often use it to get through the final hours of their shifts. That said, the drug is still more likely to be taken by people with incomes over £52,000 than by people on lower salaries; this has led police chiefs to inveigh against hypocritical "middle-class" drug users who worry about issues such as climate change, but think there is "no harm in taking a bit of cocaine".
Is there any harm in it?
Yes. Cocaine, a class-A drug, has serious short- and long-term health risks: it can cause cardiovascular damage, neurological injury – seizures, paranoia, psychosis – respiratory failure and sudden death. In 2023, drug-poisoning deaths in England and Wales hit their highest level in 32 years; there were 1,118 cocaine deaths, nearly seven times higher than a decade earlier. Men from "Gen X", born around the 1970s, were disproportionately affected. Its wider social effects on Britain are baleful, too. In 2021, the Home Office estimated that drug-linked crime cost society nearly £20 billion a year in England and Wales. Of the 3,148 recorded homicides in England and Wales between April 2018 and March 2023, 1,627 (52%) were drug-related. There is also evidence that cocaine use is fuelling domestic violence: in 2023, a pilot scheme found that 59% of domestic abuse offenders arrested in seven police force areas tested positive for cocaine and/or opiates.
What about further afield?
Drug gangs in Central and South America have destabilised the regions – undermining governments, killing tens of thousands every year. Gangs such as the Sinaloa Cartel and MS-18 control vast territories through violence and corruption; they erode democratic institutions, hollow out public services, degrade and deforest the environment, and compel citizens to migrate for safety. Ecuador's emergence as the key transatlantic cocaine gateway (70% of cocaine now flows through its ports) has been accompanied by a huge increase in homicides – 8,000 in 2023, eight times more than in 2018.
Can anything be done?
Headlines about cocaine seizures are 10 a penny. Last year, police and the Border Force seized the largest quantity of cocaine (26.57 tonnes; estimated street value, £2 billion) since records began, 75% up on 2023. Officials at the port of Antwerp complain that they're seizing more drugs than they can destroy. But with so much money to be made, traffickers are still finding ways of getting their drugs on to the street: whether by corrupting or blackmailing officials, by moving to less well-policed ports, or by using new technologies such as underwater "narco-subs" to bring huge hauls to European shores. The gangs are resilient and well-resourced, and adapt to every crackdown.
