UK drug policy must evolve to address rising cocaine use and its link to domestic abuse
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/editorial. "The Guardian view on cocaine and domestic abuse: new links between drugs and crime need investigating | Editorial | The Guardian." November 5, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
Drug deaths have dipped slightly, but cocaine is now killing more people than heroin, and a lot of people arrested for domestic abuse test positive for cocaine. The Guardian argues the government's drug strategy is out of date and underfunded, and should be refreshed with more treatment money, attention to poverty, and research into how cocaine and domestic abuse are connected.
Conclusion
The government's five-year-old drug strategy must be updated, by recommitting to Prof Black's whole-system approach, restoring treatment funding, tackling socioeconomic disparities, and researching the cocaine–domestic abuse link, because patterns of drug supply, use and harm have changed.
Premises
- Drug deaths in England and Wales have only just fallen slightly for the first time since 2012, but cocaine-linked deaths have spiked and cocaine has overtaken heroin as a cause of death.
- Evidence uncovered by the Guardian shows nearly six in 10 people arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse tested positive for cocaine, and an earlier study found 59% tested positive for cocaine or opiates, which indicates a strong link between cocaine and domestic abuse.
- Illegal drug use poses specific challenges that alcohol does not: criminal penalties for possession deter victims and users from disclosing use and make it harder for charities to offer and access support.
- The 2021 drug strategy, based on Carol Black's review, has stalled, since treatment and research funding has been frozen while cocaine use has boomed and drug seizures have reached record highs.
- Drug harms are concentrated in deprived areas (five times more drug deaths than in the least deprived areas), and harm reduction measures such as treatment rooms are pragmatic but not a panacea, so enforcement alone is insufficient and a whole-system approach tied to reducing health inequalities is needed.
Assumptions
- Positive drug tests among domestic abuse suspects indicate a meaningful link, possibly causal, between cocaine and abusive behavior, rather than just reflecting general cocaine prevalence.
- Arrestees tested after domestic abuse arrests are reasonably representative, or at least informative, for understanding the drug–abuse relationship.
- Restored treatment funding and a whole-system approach would reduce drug harms more effectively than current policy.
- Government can and should adapt policy to evolving drug use patterns, and the 2027 spending review is a feasible opportunity.
- Decriminalizing or softening penalties for possession would improve help-seeking (implied by the criticism of criminal penalties).