Cocaine-linked crimes rising in Britain as consumption surges
newsOct 25, 20261220
British police recorded a 10% rise in crimes mentioning cocaine since 2019 as consumption across England has surged, the Guardian found. Wastewater analysis estimates people in England consumed about 123,000 kg of cocaine in 2024-25, equivalent to roughly 2.5 billion lines and an estimated street value close to 10 billion pounds. The Home Office estimates cocaine use at monitoring sites in England rose 26% since 2021. Police recorded 29,922 offences mentioning cocaine in 2025, equal to 63.4 cases per 100,000 people, with provisional data to May 2026 pointing toward about 64 cases per 100,000. A majority of cocaine-associated offences were drug offences, 18% were violent crimes including stalking, harassment and one murder case, and just under 4% were sexual offences, including 344 rapes. Drug tests on people arrested for domestic abuse were positive for cocaine in nearly six in 10 cases between July 2025 and June 2026, echoing a 2023 pilot that found 59% tested positive for cocaine or opiates. Road safety charity IAM RoadSmart used DVLA data to show drug-driving endorsements rose to 30,707 in 2025, overtaking drink-driving endorsements at 29,769 that year.
