Overview

• New NHS figures show 723 people aged over 65 sought hospital care for snorting cocaine in the 12 months to March.
• The tally includes 70 patients aged 75–79, 28 in their 80s, and eight in their 90s.
• Older adults represented about 3% of 23,644 people treated for cocaine, with 156 treated for longer-term addiction.
• The latest total is one-third higher than in 2022–23 and roughly four-and-a-half times the 164 recorded in 2014–15.
• An addiction specialist cites disposable income, free time, loneliness and bereavement as drivers, while official data describe the UK as Europe’s largest cocaine market with 1,100 cocaine-related deaths in 2023.