Cocaine overtakes heroin as leading cause of drug deaths
Cocaine was involved in more drug-poisoning deaths in England and Wales last year than any other substance for the first time, the Office for National Statistics said, with 1,233 deaths and a 22% share. Total deaths fell slightly to 5,519 registered in 2025, 46 fewer than in 2024 and the first fall in the age-standardised rate since 2012, but they remain double the rates of ten years ago.
Cocaine-specific deaths are four times higher than a decade ago and eight times higher than in 2010; 64% of those who died were over 40, a pattern also seen in treatment services. The north-east of England had the highest rate, 135.2 deaths per million, and London the lowest at 58.3; deaths were five times higher in the most deprived areas than the least deprived. Ketamine was mentioned in 115 deaths in 2025, against 27 in 2020 and seven in 2015. Niamh Eastwood of Release said cocaine deaths were “a direct result of policy failures both in the UK and internationally”: production is at an all-time high and the drug is “more available, cheaper and purer than ever, despite billions spent on trying to disrupt or eradicate the trade”. Charities said the government “must act now to reverse this deadly trend”. The ONS counts deaths by the year in which they were registered, so many occurred earlier; the overall rate of 92.4 per million compares with 93.9 in 2024. Police have recorded rising cocaine-linked assaults, domestic abuse and dangerous driving.