Australians Are The Biggest Cocaine Users In The World

Australia is in the midst of a cocaine epidemic, a new investigation has found.

According to a report by Sky News Australia, the class A drug has been entering the country in massive quantities of late.

Despite the efforts of the police to stem the supply, Australia reportedly has the highest number of cocaine users per capita of any country in the world.

News Corp Australia senior correspondent Charles Miranda said: "It is an absolute tsunami of drugs entering this country and you can't blame the police - they're a little force fighting it at the front end, but we are just being absolutely swamped by drugs, by meth, but mostly by cocaine."

According to the investigation, cocaine trade in Australia is said to be worth around $2 billion (£1.1bn), with five-and-a-half tonnes of it consumed there every year.

And it's only getting bigger, with Sydney still the country's cocaine capital.

PA

Data from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission's wastewater analysis last year showed that Sydney consumed 15 doses of cocaine per 1,000 people on an average day.

Comparatively, Melbourne recorded six doses and Brisbane five, while the country's actual capital city, Canberra, recorded 10 doses.

Dr Katie Willis from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission said: "What we know from our wastewater data is that cocaine is a serious drug for the country. Australians are a country of stimulant users - cocaine is a stimulant.

"All of the data that we have is pointing in the direction of expansion in the cocaine market."

Miranda says that while you might have expected the market to shrink over the past year, due to the pandemic, the opposite is true.

He said: "It's just phenomenal. And in some respects, the war is escalated behind the scenes, behind the sort of distraction that is Covid-19.

"The value of it has gone up, under the perception that it's harder to get, but it's not harder to get.

PA

"We're getting more ship exports, genuine ship exports, than ever before because we're not flying as much airfreight - so we're shipping it all, and in the guise of ship freights, of legitimate ship freights, are these drugs."

An while at one time it was the drug choice of the rich and famous, cocaine has permeated through all tiers of society - though it is still a costly pastime.

According to reports, a gram of coke will set people back around $300 in Australia, compared to $3 to $14 in Mexico or $60 and $80 in the US.

Detective Superintendent Martin Fileman of New South Wales Police Organised Crime Squad said the kind of money to be made by gangs is astronomical.

He said: "When you look at the way where Australia is, and you look at the price you can pay for a kilo of cocaine in America, or even Australia to South America - South America [it's] $3000 a kilo, here, $230,000 a kilo.

"So the risks that these facilitators or these organised crime syndicates in Australia - they are willing to take [them]."

And despite the best efforts of the authorities, there doesn't appear to be any signs of them stopping anytime soon.

"The unfortunate part about it is we have a market over here for cocaine, so as long as we've got a market, they're going to keep importing it," Superintendent Fileman added.

Topics: Police, World News, Cocaine, Drugs, Australia

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

@SmithersDom