The 'silent killer' that is destroying lives in one part of the UK

Cocaine is wrecking lives in one part of the UK, a new investigation has found. Police in Wales accept that there is "significantly widespread" easy access to the Class A drug, particularly in cities and larger towns.

"It’s so prevalent now and it’s so easy to get hold of. People will be having a drink and will have a number on their phone and say: ‘I’ll just get a cheeky gram as well – why not?'" one expert says.

However, despite becoming 'normalised' in the country, it has brought with it a litany of horrors. Wales Online report how children are being sent, normally by train, from across Britain to sell the drug as part of a trade which relies on violence and exploitation. Whilst people from all walks of life are facing breakdowns, mental health crises, and even death.

The most recent Office for National Statistics data for 2021 – published in 2022 – show there were 210 deaths from drug misuse in Wales that year. The number is the highest since records began in 1993 with the previous record being 208 deaths in 2018. Although opiates are the most common killers the number of deaths involving heroin and morphine has fallen in Wales since 2018.

The biggest rise in Wales was seen in deaths from cocaine. The number of annual deaths involving the narcotic were in single figures until as recently as 2014 but rocketed to hit 47 between 2021 and 2022.

Overall in the UK that year there were 840 deaths from cocaine use. Although that figure may seem relatively small in comparison to the overall number of users, given how widespread it is, it’s the sharp rise that is most concerning – increasing from 708 in 2019 and 770 in 2020.

Although the exact reasons for the increase are unclear some experts have put the recent leap in