Cocaine overtakes heroin as the drug most involved in deaths in England and Wales

Cocaine was the drug most involved in drug-related deaths in England and Wales in 2025, overtaking heroin for the first time, according to Office for National Statistics figures published on 4 November 2026. The Office for National Statistics, the government's official statistics body, recorded 1,233 deaths caused by cocaine, which accounted for 22% of drug-related deaths.

The rise has been steady over a decade. Cocaine-specific deaths are now four times higher than they were ten years ago and eight times higher than in 2010. By comparison, 1,210 deaths involving heroin or morphine were registered in 2025, against 1,201 in 2015.

Overall, 5,519 deaths related to drug poisoning were registered in England and Wales in 2025, 46 fewer than the year before. The drug-poisoning mortality rate was 92.4 deaths per million people, and it was the first annual decrease in the age-standardised rate, which adjusts for differences in population age, since 2012.

The figures show differences by sex. The male rate rose to 130.0 deaths per million, while the female rate fell to 56.6, so the gap between men and women widened. Men aged 40 to 49 had the highest drug misuse death rate, at 141.4 deaths per million, and 64% of cocaine deaths were of people over 40.

Regionally, the north-east of England recorded the highest rate of drug deaths at 135.2 per million people, while London recorded the lowest at 58.3. Drug deaths were five times higher in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived.

Deaths linked to ketamine also rose, with 115 mentions in 2025, compared with 27 in 2020 and seven in 2015.

Drug misuse deaths totalled 3,615 in 2025, equal to 60.6 per million people, down from 63.1 per million in 2024. The Office for National Statistics says information on the specific drugs involved is not always available, so its drug misuse figures are underestimates.

Charities said the government "must act now" in response to the data.