Cocaine use statistics 2025

Cocaine use remains a significant issue in the UK, affecting individuals from all walks of life. With increased availability and rising purity levels, more people are using the drug, leading to growing concerns about its impact on health, addiction, and wider society.

Here, we look at key statistics on the prevalence and demographics of cocaine use, treatment trends, links between cocaine and mental health, usage among young people, and related deaths.

Prevalence and demographics

• The UK’s domestic cocaine market is estimated to be worth £4 billion a year. [1]
• Global production of cocaine surged from 2013, and the rise in cocaine production has led to increased competition amongst UK suppliers, increases in street-level purity and increased use of cocaine and crack cocaine. [2]
• There are an estimated 976,000 users each year (nearly four times the number of heroin users but with much less frequent average usage). [2]
• Between 2022 to 2023, 137,749 people sought treatment for drug and alcohol problems, of these:
  • 19% said they had a problem with crack cocaine
  • 17% said they had a problem with (non-crack) cocaine [6]

Trends

• Powder cocaine use has remained steady in the last year for people aged 16 to 59 years (2.1%) and 16 to 24 years (3.8%), compared with YE March 2023. [3]
• Crack cocaine use has risen by 4.4% and the trend continues to rise. [5]

People seeking treatment

• In 2022-23, people entering treatment for powder cocaine use increased by 10% (from 21,298 to 23,529), surpassing the previous peak in 2019-20. [6]
• In Wales, referrals to crack cocaine treatment services rose by more than 50% in five years (up to 2021). [4]
• Data from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) shows a 49% increase in people seeking treatment for crack cocaine (without heroin) between 2014-15 and 2017-18. [5]
• Research shows that crack cocaine users are harder to engage in treatment than opiate users. There is a 61% unmet need for crack (the numbers of people with crack problems against the numbers in treatment) compared to 46% for opiates. [5]

Young people

• 11,013 young people were in contact with drug and alcohol services between April 2020 and March 2021. Of these, 9% (976) reported a problem with powder cocaine. [7]
• Cocaine use among young people in treatment peaked in 2008-09 (13%), before falling to 7% in 2012-13. Since then, figures have remained steady at around 9%. [7]

Cocaine use and mental health

• The presence of cocaine-induced psychosis is 50.2% in current cocaine users and 55.6% in lifetime cocaine us. [9]
• 20% of people hospitalised with schizophrenia are also abusing cocaine. [10]
• Nearly 60% of people with cocaine use disorder also have an alcohol use disorder. [11]

Cocaine-related deaths

• Drug deaths in 2018 were the highest on record (2,917). [2]
• Cocaine-related deaths at an all-time high and making up 1 in 7 of all deaths from drug poisoning [2]
• In 2023, there were 1,118 deaths involving cocaine, which was 30.5% higher than the previous year (857 deaths) [8]
• Of those 1,118 deaths, males accounted for 79.2% [8]

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