Cocaine deaths among women soar as job pressures mount

THE number of women dying from cocaine has increased by more than 25 per cent in a year, government data has revealed, as the overall drug death rate reaches record levels.

According to a recently published government report, cocaine use is on the rise – notably among women, with a direct correlation between those who have “high-pressure jobs and lifestyle”.

The Office for National Statistics yesterday published data analysing deaths relating to drug poisoning in England and Wales from 1993 to 2019. It found that deaths involving cocaine increased for the eighth successive year, by 7.7 per cent for male deaths and by 26.5 per cent for female deaths.

Dr Prun Bijral, medical director at Change Grow Live, a charity specialising in substance misuse, said: “Increased cocaine purity and greater availability of cocaine has correlated with a national increase in problematic cocaine use. This is particularly evident among women and we have seen a 24 per cent increase in the rate of cocaine use by women over the last six years.”

The mortality rate per million people linked to cocaine-related deaths was 5.1 for females in 2019 – its highest since records began in 1998 when the rate was 0.5. It is a marked increase on the previous years; in 2018 the rate was 4.1, in 2017 it was 3.3 and in 2016 it was 1.9.

In contrast, the rate was 19.5 for men in 2019, which also marked a record high – but which marked a lower increase from 18.1 in 2018 and 11.8 in 2017.

According to the Review of Drugs report commissioned by Dame Carol Black to provide data on the illicit drugs market, people in higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations are driving much of the increase in the number of cocaine users.

The report also found connections between increased powder cocaine use and people with a high-pressure jobs and lifestyle, with some overlap with increased female use.

According to the latest Home Office statistics, cocaine is the second most commonly used drug after cannabis.