At least 29,922 crimes recorded by British police in 2025 included a reference to cocaine in their descriptions, according to an analysis published by the Guardian on 25 October. The rate of such records increased compared with 2019. That does not, however, mean the drug caused all those offences or that rising consumption explains the change in police statistics.
The newspaper requested information from 45 British police forces, of which 39 supplied data. The Metropolitan Police, which serves London, was among those missing from the dataset. According to the Guardian’s calculations, there were 63.4 crimes with descriptions mentioning cocaine per 100,000 people in 2025, compared with 57.7 in 2019.
Most of the records from 2025 concerned drug offences. Eighteen per cent were classified as violent offences. That distinction matters: the overall figure covers different types of crime, not just assaults or other acts of violence.
A mention in police records does not establish a cause
The analysis involved searching for the word “cocaine” in brief police descriptions of cases. This method shows how often the drug appears in the records, but does not establish its role in each incident. As Professor Harry Sumnall, quoted by the newspaper, stresses, a reference to cocaine does not prove that it caused the crime.
The findings may therefore include incidental references while missing cases in which the drug’s name was misspelt or the information appeared elsewhere in the records. Not all forces supplied data for every year or a breakdown by offence type. The figures should not therefore be treated as a complete count of such cases across the UK.
Separate figures point to rising consumption in England
The Guardian also cites estimates from the Home Office, the UK government department responsible for domestic affairs. These suggest cocaine use at monitored locations in England has risen by 26% since 2021. The wastewater analysis described by the newspaper put estimated consumption in England at 123,000kg in 2024–25. These are estimates for England, not a measurement covering the whole UK.
The newspaper also reports results from tests carried out on people arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse. Between July 2025 and June 2026, almost six in ten tests were positive for cocaine. However, the sample was not representative: some tests were carried out after drug use had already been suspected. The result cannot therefore be applied to everyone arrested in such cases.
The analysis points to two parallel developments: cocaine appearing more frequently in police crime descriptions, and higher estimated consumption at monitored locations in England. It does not establish how far those developments are connected. That is the central limit on the conclusions that can be drawn from the figures.
