Australia’s cocaine spending surges past Coca-Cola sales

New data shows Sydney’s insatiable taste for hard drugs has surged past sales of Coca-Cola.

Spending on cocaine has surged past sales of Coca-Cola, as Sydney’s white-line fever worsens.

The startling finding emerges from analysis by The Daily Telegraph of “conservative” drug data that appears to understate the true scale of expenditure on cocaine.

For the past four years, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has been reporting on drug spending, with the most recent figures released in February.

In the first two years of its work, the ACIC estimated outlays on cocaine at a combined $2.6 billion – equal to Coke sales over the same period, based on Coca-Cola Amatil’s financial results.

Coca-Cola contained cocaine when it was first developed in 1885. Picture: Richard Dobson

However, during the past two years of the ACIC’s reporting, purchases of cocaine nationally were found to be worth a combined $3.5 billion while Coke sales were only about $2.8 billion.

Coca-Cola contained cocaine when it was first developed in Atlanta in 1885.

The increase in cocaine spending is due to a big rise in consumption, up from a combined 7172 kilograms in 2017 and 2018, to 10,311kg in the past two years, according to the ACIC.

In NSW alone, usage has jumped from 4210kg to 5536kg and is now more than 150 per cent higher than in Victoria and 200 per cent greater than in Queensland.

Since August 2018, cocaine consumption in Sydney has ranged from about nine to 20 doses per day per 1000 people. The quarterly data compiled by the ACIC shows an upward trend in doses.

During this time period, no other state or territory capital has recorded a single quarterly result of at least 10 doses per day per 1000 people.

Cocaine use in NSW’s regions is also far higher than in any other non-metropolitan area of Australia.

The ACIC’s consumption results come from wastewater monitoring.

Its spending estimates are calculated using a national median “cap” or “street deal” price.

For the February report, the commission said it drew on street deal data from both the NSW and Queensland police forces.

Other states and territories provided no street deal prices.

Queensland gave a range of $40 to $60; NSW’s was $100 to $200.

However, the ACIC used $50 as the national median.

For the ACIC report produced 12 months earlier, Queensland gave a range of $50 to $130; NSW said $100 to $250. The ACIC went with $90, which again appears to be the midpoint of the relatively low Queensland range.

No other state or territory provided figures for that period either.

In the latest ACIC report, the steep fall in the median street price used – to $50 from $90 – led to a drop in the ACIC’s estimated spending on cocaine, to $1.41bn compared to $2.08bn a year earlier, despite a year-on-year rise in national consumption of more than 1000kg to 5675kg.

If NSW’s median street deal price had been used in the ACIC reports, it is likely the national spending estimates would have been hundreds of millions of dollars higher.

An ACIC spokeswoman said it applied “a consistent formula”.

“We recognise that this normally results in a conservative figure being applied, but we are comfortable with this approach and believe that where estimates are being made it is better to err on the side of caution,” she said.

The ACIC would not provide national median street deal prices for the first two years of its monitoring – or explain how its formula was consistent.

University of NSW researchers have found there has been no change in the street price of cocaine for many years. UNSW’s work is based on reports from users across the nation.

To smooth out the effect of the big drop in the ACIC’s estimated street deal price, the Telegraph combined two years of cocaine spending and compared them to the previous two years; the same was done for Coke sales.

Originally published as Australia’s cocaine spending surges past Coca-Cola sales