Data shows cocaine use skyrocketed during pandemic as methamphetamine supply dried up

Ice use may have melted away during the pandemic but testing reveals South Australia’s appetite for another dangerous drug grew to record levels.

Cocaine use in South Australia soared to its highest levels in four years during the Covid-19 pandemic as the flow of methamphetamine from the eastern states dried up, data shows.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s national wastewater drug monitoring program shows cocaine use in SA has jumped 128 per cent over the four years of testing.

It increased from 107.1kg in the first year to 243.8kg in the fourth year. Consumption peaked in Adelaide in October 2019 at an estimated rate of about 570mg per 1000 people per day.

The Commission’s Illicit Drug Data Reports show the number of people arrested for using the drug peaked in 2018-19 at 155, the highest in a decade of the reports.

South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services executive director Michael White said Adelaide was considered a lucrative market for cocaine smugglers because of its relative isolation.

“Cocaine has historically been uncommon because there is not a direct trade route into South Australia from the areas where cocaine is supplied from,” he said.

“It tends to ship into the eastern states where it is more accessible and more commonly used.

Cocaine worth $20m was found hidden inside two welding machines leading to an Adelaide man being arrested and charged. Picture: Australian Border Force.

“What has happened over the last few years is there seems to have been an increase in the distribution between South Australia and interstate.

“It’s lucrative because once you get the drugs here you can sell it for a high price.”

Mr White said internal market factors had led to a rise in cocaine availability as the price of methamphetamine rose.

“It’s a market economy,” he said.

“If someone can get a good return here they will ship it here, if they are going to get that same price in Sydney it will stay there.

“They will sell where the price is highest and the price is highest where it is rarest.”

Since 2012 more than 28kg of the drug have been seized by Federal and state police.

Serious and Organised Crime Branch officer-in-charge Superintendent Stephen Taylor last December told The Advertiser cocaine use increased during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Superintendent Taylor said at the time that cocaine prices had remained relatively stable.

Cocaine use skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Several plots to import large quantities of the drug have also been foiled with police either intercepting the drugs or preventing them leaving South America or the United States.

The Ecstasy and Related Drug Reporting System 2020 report found the small cohort of drug users who participated in the research agreed cocaine was ‘easy or very easy’ to obtain during 2020.

The report also found the price and purity of cocaine remained fairly constant as its use increased among the self-reporting group.

If you would like to speak to someone about an alcohol or drug problem contact the Alcohol and Drug Information Service on 1300 13 13 40 or visit knowyouroptions.sa.gov.au