Cocaine deaths have risen sevenfold in a decade, with middle-class drug users fueling the crisis, new statistics have suggested.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released data on Wednesday showing that drug-related deaths in England and Wales have reached an all-time high, fueled in part by a rise in cocaine use.
The researchers found that there were 4,859 drug poisoning-related deaths recorded in 2021, a rate of 84.4 deaths per million people.
This represents the ninth consecutive annual increase, 6.2% more than the previous year. It is also the highest number since records began in 1993, more than a quarter of a century ago.
“Significant” increase in drug deaths
The figures come as the Government was accused by one of its own drug advisers of not caring about the growing number of heroin addicts dying of overdoses.
However, the ONS also found that 840 cocaine-related deaths were recorded in 2021, an 8.1% increase on the previous year (777 deaths) and more than seven times the number in 2011 (112 deaths).
In 2021, men accounted for 76.8% of cocaine deaths: 645 men compared to 195 women. Cocaine has consistently been the second most commonly used drug, after cannabis, in England and Wales over the past decade.
Experts said the overall upward trend over the past decade has been driven primarily by opioid-related deaths. However, there were also “significant” increases in fatalities involving other substances such as cocaine and “street valium” over the past 12 months.
Statisticians said the rise in cocaine-related deaths is likely to be a direct result of its growing use, fueled by what experts say is the drug’s growing popularity among the middle classes.
Doctors at the Priory, a mental health and addiction service in the UK, suggested they had seen an increase in the number of middle-class people and home workers seeking help for cocaine addiction.
A spokesman said inquiries about cocaine addiction had increased by 58% compared to 12 months earlier.
“More opportunities” for drug use
Dr Niall Campbell, a consultant psychiatrist at Priory’s Roehampton Hospital in London, said the increase in working from home had given people more opportunities to take drugs such as cocaine.
“Without having to go to the office or attend in-person meetings, people prone to cocaine and other addictions find more opportunities to continue them,” he said.
“It has not been easy for people to spend a lot of time at home suddenly, and the effect on personal relationships has been acute. Zoom and teams are no substitute for face-to-face contact.”
He told MailOnline: “People used to use cocaine on weekends, recreationally, but now it’s changed to everyday use. Like anything that becomes cheaper and more available, more and more people ‘use. It has become more normalized.”
Drug support charities have issued multiple warnings to heroin users of an ever-increasing risk following a spate of reported deaths across the country. Batches of the Class A drug are suspected to have been mixed with synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
When asked if anyone cared about the rise in heroin-related deaths, Dr Emily Finch, a senior fellow at the Royal College of Psychiatrists who sits on the government’s advisory council on drug misuse, told Sky News: “I think that’s one of the problems. I don’t think the general population generally does.
“I think a lot of people, and maybe that’s reflected in the Government, don’t really care and that’s why they’ve allowed a treatment system to atrophy to a great extent.”
A government spokesman said: “Our landmark drug strategy will help rebuild drug treatment and recovery services to better support people through recovery, as well as tackle the criminal supply chains that feed drug markets. illegal drugs”.