Cocaine deaths at all-time high as middle-class usage goes up

COCAINE deaths are their highest since records began after an increase in use by the middle classes.

A report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found there were 432 deaths relating to use of the class A drug in 2017, nearly quadruple the number in 2011 when rates began to rise again after a brief decrease.

The figures follow police warnings that low prices are causing a boom in cocaine sales, with an estimated 875,000 people using the drug in England and Wales last year, a 15 per cent year-on-year rise.

Last week, Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said “hypocritical” middle-class users were behind the trend which is partly driving the increase in gangland killings.

While the number of deaths have risen, so too has the age of those impacted. Since 2010, the proportion of people aged 20 to 29 who died from cocaine has dropped by 34per cent, and by 18per cent among 30 to 39 year olds.

By contrast, deaths increased by 46per cent among those aged 40 to 49, and 138per cent for those aged 50 to 69.

The report comes after a study by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction identified people in England and Wales as the highest users of cocaine in Europe.

Overall there were 3,756 drug poisoning deaths involving both legal and illegal drugs registered in England and Wales in 2017, an increase of 12 on the previous year. Two-thirds of these deaths related to drug misuse.

Karen Tyrell, executive director at the drugs charity Addaction, described the statistics as “devastating”.

“It’s such needless waste of life and a tragedy for so many families and loved ones,” she said.

Cocaine prices are believed to be at their lowest level for 25 years, while the purity of cocaine sold on the street has risen for the fifth year running, increasing the risk for users.

Home Office figures released last week showed use of the drug among the wealthiest people in England and Wales is at its highest for nearly a decade, with 3.4 per cent of 16 to 59 year olds living in households with an income of at least £50,000 taking the drug in powder form last year.

The ONS statistics comprise both deaths relating to cocaine in powder form and crack cocaine.

Since 1993, when drug death statistics began being collected, the increase in deaths by cocaine is almost 4,000 per cent. The North East had the highest rate of drug misuse deaths last year, with 83.2per one million people, while London had the lowest, dropping from 32.3 deaths per one million people in 2016 to 24.6 in 2017.