Cocaine deaths rise 30% in a year, latest official data shows

The total number of drug-related deaths registered reached a new record high last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

There were 1,118 deaths involving cocaine registered in 2023, making up a fifth of all drug-poisoning deaths.

This was 30.5% higher than the previous year when there were 857 deaths, and almost 10 times higher than in 2011 when 112 deaths were registered.

The rise was described by one charity as “alarming” and said it is “vital that services provide advice and support” for people.

In the past decade, cocaine has consistently been the second most-used drug, after cannabis, in England and Wales, the ONS said.

Males made up almost eight in 10 (79.2%) of the deaths registered last year involving cocaine – at 886 males compared with 232 females.

Across the two nations, 5,448 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in 2023, which the ONS said was the equivalent of 93.0 deaths per million people and is the highest since records began in 1993.

Almost half of deaths (46.8%) involved an opiate such as heroin or morphine, amounting to 2,551 drug-poisoning deaths.

This was 12.8% higher than the previous year, the ONS said.

Heroin and morphine, which the ONS said are often indistinguishable from each other in toxicology testing, remained the most frequently mentioned opiates, with 1,453 drug-poisoning deaths mentioning either one of these substances in 2023.

The highest rates of deaths relating to drug poisoning and drug misuse remained highest in the North East of England, at 174.3 deaths per million people and 108.5 per million, respectively.

The lowest rate was in London, where there were 58.1 deaths per million people for drug poisoning and 41.0 per million for drug misuse.

The rate of drug deaths rose in Wales year-on year, with 377 deaths related to drug poisoning registered in 2023, compared to 318 deaths in 2022.

Greg Ceely, head of population health monitoring at the ONS, said: “The number of drug poisoning deaths registered in England and Wales in 2023 increased by 11% compared to 2022 and is the highest since our records began in 1993. This continues a trend of drug deaths increasing each year since 2012.

“Around half of the deaths involve an opiate, such as heroin or morphine. We saw a large rise in the number of cocaine deaths, which account for a fifth of all deaths related to drug poisoning in 2023.

“Men born in the 1970s, often referred to as ‘Generation X’, continue to see the highest rate of drug related deaths.”

Clare Taylor, chief operating officer at drug treatment provider Turning Point, said: “These statistics – the highest number since records began – highlight, yet again, the urgent need to seriously address the drug related deaths crisis.

“All drug related deaths are preventable, and our thoughts are with anyone who has lost someone.”

She said synthetic opioids – which are lab-produced and are hundreds of times stronger than heroin – are “increasingly being detected in the drug supply which is particularly concerning and putting many more people at risk of accidental overdose”.

ONS data showed there were 52 deaths registered involving nitazenes – synthetic opiods – in 2023, up from 38 the previous year.

She called for better availability of services where drugs can be checked for purity and contaminants and greater provision of the opioid overdose reversal drug, Naloxone.

She added: “The increased deaths from cocaine use (nearly ten times higher than in 2011) is alarming and its vital that services provide advice and support for individuals.”

The ONS said that due to delays in registering deaths, more than half of the deaths reported in their latest data for 2023 happened in previous years.