Cocaine-related deaths overtake heroin for first time in England and Wales

Cocaine has overtaken heroin as the substance most often involved in drug-related deaths registered in England and Wales, according to new data.

The data for 2025 also showed the first decrease in the overall death rate in more than a decade, with 5,519 registered deaths related to drug poisoning, down from 5,565 a year earlier.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said last year's figures were the equivalent of 92.4 deaths per million people, with the first annual drop in the mortality rate since 2012.

For the first time since these records began in 1993, cocaine overtook heroin or morphine as the most frequently mentioned specific substance in drug-poisoning deaths, the ONS said.

There were 1,233 deaths involving cocaine registered in England and Wales in 2025, equivalent to 20.7 deaths per million people.

While there were 1,210 deaths involving heroin or morphine registered last year, compared with 1,201 deaths a decade earlier in 2015.

Despite cocaine deaths falling from 1,279 in 2024, the ONS warned they "remained historically high" and were more than eight times higher than in 2010.

Gap between men and women at 'record high'

Males accounted for almost three-quarters (72.5%) of drug-related deaths in 2025, totalling 2,622 deaths.

Females accounted for 27.5%, equating to 993 deaths.

Average age at death remained unchanged from a year earlier, at 45.5 years old for males and 48.5 years old for females.

David Mais, head of mortality statistics at the ONS, said "deaths from drug poisoning remain historically high" despite the decline in fatalities.

"More than twice as many men as women died from drug poisoning, and the gap between the sexes reached a record high," he added.

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Cocaine has become more widely available at lower prices and use is "increasingly socially acceptable", the WithYou charity said.

Robin Pollard, head of policy at the organisation which supports those with drug and alcohol abuse problems, said: "Across almost all areas where WithYou deliver services, we hear that cocaine has become far more prevalent.

"Whereas before 2020, we typically would have seen the price of a gram of cocaine being around £100, it is much more common to hear it being available for £60 a gram or less now, and available to buy in ever smaller amounts.

"It has also become easier to purchase in all parts of the country and has become increasingly socially acceptable."

Mike Trace, chief executive of social justice charity Forward Trust, said: "That cocaine has risen to the top of the statistics for drug-related deaths should come as no surprise.

"We're facing the perfect storm of record levels of production in South America leading to falling prices combined with increasing purity which means increasing potency and risk."

The ONS cautioned that as the 2025 data relates to registrations, the figures will include deaths which occurred in previous years.

In 2025, the average delay in registering a drug-poisoning death was 209 days in England, and 253 days in Wales.

(c) Sky News 2026: Cocaine-related deaths overtake heroin for first time in England and Wales