Britain is estimated to consume 117 million tonnes of cocaine each year.
This is not correct. The National Crime Agency has actually estimated cocaine consumption in England, Scotland and Wales to be around 117 tonnes annually, though this figure may be outdated.
On Wednesday morning a BBC Radio 2 newsreader [1:59:55] stated that, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA), Britain consumes “117 million tonnes of cocaine each year”.
The same claim was also made in a news bulletin on Radio 3 [2:01:35], and a bulletin on 6 Music [2:01:10] which said: “The NCA says Britain consumes 117 million tonnes of cocaine every year.”
This is not correct—and not even close. A spokesperson for the NCA told Full Fact that it actually estimates that cocaine consumption in England, Scotland and Wales is about 117 tonnes per year. This figure was referenced in a BBC news article published the same day.
The 117 tonne-estimate is not a new one—the same figure has been in use by the NCA since 2019 and may be out of date (though there’s no evidence to suggest cocaine consumption has since increased by a factor of one million).
In 2021 the Home Office launched a programme to take samples from wastewater treatment plants to estimate rates of illicit drug consumption in England and Scotland. The most recent tests show that cocaine consumption (including both powder and crack cocaine) increased by 7% between April 2023 and April 2024.
The latest government figures show that in the year ending March 2024, just over 28 tonnes of powder cocaine was seized across England and Wales by police forces and Border Force. This was a 52% increase on the previous year and the largest quantity of cocaine seized since current comparable records began in 1973.
A spokesperson for the BBC told Full Fact: “There was an error in the number given in a radio script which was heard on Radio 2 and 6 Music news. This error was spotted and corrected for later live bulletins.” We’ve asked about the Radio 3 error and will update this fact check if we receive a response.
A Full Fact reader brought this claim to our attention, for which we’re very grateful. If you’ve spotted a claim you think we should fact check, please let us know here.
Update 10 April 2025
We’ve updated this fact check to include details of the claim also being made on Radio 3.
Update 11 April 2025
We’ve updated this fact check to include a response from the BBC.
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