Ageing users and record deaths – the data behind Britain’s £9.8bn-a-year cocaine habit

From pub toilets and private parties to football terraces and far-right marches, cocaine has become a familiar presence across modern Britain. Deaths linked to the drug have risen to record levels, while its supply supports a multibillion-pound criminal industry.But who is using the drug, and how has the picture changed? The figures do not necessarily show millions of new users, but highlight an established market in which some people take more cocaine, more often – and face greater harm as they grow older.A £9.8bn-a-year habit?In June this year the scientists at the Home Office published a new experimental estimate of cocaine consumption. Samples taken from sewage suggested that cocaine use rose by 26% between 2021 and 2025. They estimated that people in England consumed 123,000kg of cocaine in 2024-25: the equivalent of roughly 2.5bn lines, with an estimated street value of £9.8bn.graph showing cocaine found in sewageYet crime survey data suggests the number of people reporting cocaine use in the past year has remained flat or fallen slightly since the pandemic. One explanation is that a similar or smaller number of people are using the drug more frequently. Another is that the survey excludes people who are homeless or living in institutions, and some respondents may be reluctant to admit to illegal drug use.Dr Josh Torrance, a specialist in drug markets, says wastewater analysis can reveal use that surveys miss. Having surveyed festivalgoers, he said: “People are often not honest about their drug use with strangers.” Although sewage estimates have substantial margins of error, and the estimated street value should be taken with a pinch of salt, the direction of travel is broadly accurate.Cheaper cocaine, until recentlyFor several years, the market offered cocaine at falling prices. The National Crime Agency (NCA) told the Guardian that wholesale prices dropped below pre-pandemic levels in 2022 and reached “historically low levels” in 2025. However, it has seen signs that wholesale prices are rising again in 2026.Torrance tracks advertised prices for an ounce of cocaine from a pool of vendors. He says the price fell from about £1,300 in March 2022 to about £1,000 by August 2023. When he resumed collecting data in September 2025, it was about £700. That remained steady until June this year, when it rose to roughly £800; in July it reached £1,000. By September it had eased to about £950.“I’ve never seen such a quick increase in the price of cocaine,” he says of the summer rise. He suspects a supply disruption, but says the cause is difficult to pin down in a market with many suppliers and routes.graph showing increase in price of cocaineHigh purity means that cheaper supply is more dangerous. Torrance says cocaine sold as “pure” is often about 70-80% pure, and a more diluted tier (sometimes marketed as “social cocaine”) may be about 60%. The NCA says wholesale purity has remained 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.”White lines, grey hairsCrime survey data – while subject to caveats – shows younger people are still the most likely to use the drug, but that use is falling among the young, and rising among older age groups.Other statistics back this up. In England, 33,612 people started treatment for cocaine problems in 2024-25 – up 57% from 2019-20 – which also suggests an increase in frequent users.Millennials seem to be the generation with the most problematic use. People in their 30s were the largest age group seeking help. Ten years earlier, it was those in their 20s. “We’ve seen a cohort of cocaine users age and continue to use cocaine,” says Torrance.chart showing the ages of people seeking help for cocaine problemsFuel for violent crimeThere has been a 10% rise in recorded crime rates mentioning cocaine since 2019, according to figures collected by the Guardian from 39 police forces.Police recorded almost 30,000 crimes mentioning the word cocaine in 2025. Most were drug offences, but 18% were violent crimes, including stalking and harassment and one murder case. About 4% were sexual offences, including 344 rapes.graph showing cocaine-related crimeA police record mentioning cocaine does not by itself demonstrate cocaine use but the figures do give an indication of the direction of travel.Home Office figures suggest that nearly six in 10 police drug tests carried out on people arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse were positive for cocaine between July 2025 and June this year. Those tested may be more likely to have used drugs than other domestic abuse suspects, but the figures highlight cocaine’s exacerbating role.A deadly tollMore older people taking cocaine, increased purity on the streets, and a possible increase in frequent users have coincided with mounting harms, and not just for the victims of crime. A record number of people are now dying from taking cocaine in England and Wales. This rise has mainly been driven by older people, with more than half of cocaine deaths registered last year involving someone over 40.graph showing cocaine deaths by ageTorrance says the ageing of a group that continues to use cocaine is reflected in hospital presentations and deaths. Acute overdose deaths often involve cardiac problems, he says, while the health effects of long-term use add to the risks.An independent report last year found that the UK lacked a coordinated drug prevention strategy with dedicated funding, despite international evidence showing drug prevention programmes work.“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 says. Earlier drug education and helping people at risk engage with services would help.“The more we can do that, the fewer of these issues we’ll see decades down the line.”