Official figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that overall drug poisoning rates fell slightly to 92.4 deaths per million in 2025, yet cumulative fatalities remain nearly double the counts recorded in 2012. Geographic disparities continue to widen, leaving the North East with a drug death rate more than twice that of London. Cocaine contributed to more than one in five of the 5,519 total drug deaths, even as combined opiate and opioid fatalities still outpaced it. Meanwhile, shifting supply dynamics fueled an unprecedented surge in ketamine-related deaths, which reached an all-time high of 115.
Key points
National drug death rates declined for the first time since 2012, yet overall mortality f…: National drug death rates declined for the first time since 2012, yet overall mortality figures remain double that year's baseline.
Rising purity and widespread market access have established cocaine as a major driver in…: Rising purity and widespread market access have established cocaine as a major driver in more than twenty percent of drug fatalities.
Expanding recreational use and falling prices caused ketamine-related deaths to nearly do…: Expanding recreational use and falling prices caused ketamine-related deaths to nearly double year-on-year to a record 115 fatalities.
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- Published
The number of deaths from cocaine use in England and Wales has nearly quadrupled in a decade, overtaking those attributed to heroin for the first time.
Cocaine was linked to more than one in five drug poisoning deaths registered in 2025, more than any other single substance, with charities blaming its increased purity and availability.
Meanwhile a record 115 ketamine-linked deaths were registered, almost twice as many as in 2024, according to Office for National Statistics data, external.
The overall rate of drug deaths fell for the first time since 2012. But experts pointed out regional inequality was growing, with the rate of such deaths more than twice as high in the North East as in London.
There were 5,519 drug poisoning deaths registered in 2025 in England and Wales, the equivalent of 92.4 deaths per million people.
Of these, cocaine was mentioned in 1,233 cases - slightly fewer than the previous year but higher than the 1,210 deaths linked to heroin or morphine, which also marked a fall from the previous year's level.
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