Cocaine-linked crime rises in Britain as consumption surges: 123,000kg used in a year, worth nearly £10bn

As cocaine consumption rises sharply in Britain, so does drug-linked crime — police are finding the drug connected to assaults, domestic abuse and dangerous driving. Sewage samples and crime statistics together paint a picture of established users taking more cocaine, more often.

An investigation has found that police forces across Britain have recorded a 10% rise since 2019 in crime rates associated with the class A drug, while Home Office estimates suggest cocaine use at sites across England has risen by 26% since 2021.

Cocaine is a powerful and addictive stimulant that causes euphoria, overconfidence, restlessness and paranoia. Experts have warned that its use can escalate already fraught situations, potentially leading to violent incidents.

The rise in consumption in recent years can be partly explained by historically low costs while purity levels have remained high. Wastewater analysis suggests people in England consumed about 123,000kg of cocaine in 2024-25 — equivalent to roughly 2.5 billion lines, with an estimated street value of almost £10 billion.

Police recorded at least 29,922 crimes mentioning cocaine in 2025 — equivalent to 63.4 for every 100,000 people, up from 57.7 per 100,000 in 2019. Figures up to May this year suggest the rate could rise again in 2026 to about 64 per 100,000 — an increase of more than 10% over seven years.

Martin Gallagher, an author and organised crime expert who served as a police officer in Scotland for 28 years, said cocaine use had become normalised, describing how it went from being the drug of the social elite to something taken in a local pub toilet.

A majority of cocaine-associated crimes last year were drug offences, but 18% were violent crimes, including stalking and harassment and one murder case. Just under 4% of crime reports mentioning cocaine were sexual offences, including 344 rapes.

Separate figures highlight cocaine's role in domestic abuse. Nearly six in ten police drug tests on people arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse tested positive for cocaine between July 2025 and June this year. The data is not representative, as some tests were taken only after police already suspected drug use, but the results tally with a 2023 pilot study that found 59% of domestic abuse suspects tested positive for cocaine or opiates.

Harry Sumnall, a professor of substance use at Liverpool John Moores University, cautioned that scientific reviews have found no strong evidence cocaine directly induces violent behaviour, but that domestic violence is often rooted in power, and both perpetrators and survivors describe cocaine intoxication escalating loss of control and jealousy, making existing abuse more frequent and more severe. A mention of cocaine in a crime record, he noted, does not prove the drug caused the offence.

Separate licensing data obtained by road safety charity IAM RoadSmart found that drug-driving offences overtook drink-driving offences for the first time last year. There were 30,707 drug offences added to driving licences in 2025, up 28% since 2022, against 29,769 drink-driving offences, down 17%.

Prices tell their own supply story. The National Crime Agency says wholesale prices dropped below pre-pandemic levels in 2022 and reached historically low levels in 2025, though there are signs they are rising again in 2026. Drug markets specialist Dr Josh Torrance tracked an ounce of cocaine falling from about £1,300 in March 2022 to about £700 by September 2025, before climbing back to roughly £950.

Purity adds to the risk. Torrance says cocaine sold as pure is often 70-80% pure, while a more diluted tier may be about 60%, and the NCA says wholesale purity has remained high in recent years. In his view, a reduced price drives up use, and with increased use and increased purity come more deaths. Deaths linked to the drug have already risen to record levels, with the data pointing to growing harm among older users.