Key facts
- Cocaine was involved in 1,233 deaths in England and Wales in 2025, 22% of all drug-related deaths, the ONS said.
- Overall drug poisoning deaths registered in 2025 totaled 5,519, 46 fewer than in 2024, the ONS figures showed.
- Cocaine-specific deaths were four times higher than a decade earlier and eight times higher than in 2010, the ONS said.
- The north-east of England had the highest drug death rate at 135.2 per million people; London had the lowest at 58.3 per million.
- Ketamine was mentioned in 115 deaths in 2025, up from 27 in 2020 and seven in 2015, the ONS figures showed.
- Release, Forward Trust and Collective Voice called for a new drugs strategy and criticized government inaction on addiction.
Cocaine became the drug most often involved in drug-related deaths in England and Wales in 2025, overtaking heroin for the first time, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics published on November 4, 2026. Cocaine was linked to 1,233 deaths, or 22% of all drug-related deaths, including deaths from powdered cocaine and from injecting or smoking crack cocaine.
Overall, 5,519 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in 2025, 46 fewer than in 2024. The ONS figures showed the rate remained double that of a decade earlier, with cocaine-specific deaths four times higher than 10 years ago and eight times higher than in 2010. A total of 64% of cocaine deaths registered were of people over 40.
The north-east of England had the highest rate of drug deaths at 135.2 per million people in 2025, while London had the lowest at 58.3 per million. Deaths were five times higher in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived. Ketamine was mentioned in 115 deaths in 2025, up from 27 in 2020 and seven in 2015.
Niamh Eastwood, executive director of the drug law charity Release, said cocaine deaths were a direct result of policy failures in the UK and internationally, arguing that production is at an all-time high and the drug is more available, cheaper and purer than ever. Mike Trace, chief executive of the charity Forward Trust, called the overall death rate a national scandal and said record production in South America, falling prices and rising purity had created a perfect storm. Will Haydock, chief executive of Collective Voice, said improvements were at risk due to government inaction and called for a new drugs strategy.