New survey data shows cocaine use spreading as the price falls. Researchers say New Zealand is still in the “honeymoon” phase, and most people who use it have jobs.
Cocaine has long been the drug New Zealanders read about happening somewhere else. The latest data says that’s changing, and that many of the people using it turn up to work on Monday.
The New Zealand Drug Trends Survey, run by Massey University’s drug research team, found that 31% of respondents this year had used cocaine in the previous six months. In 2017/18 it was 11%.
The survey isn’t a population sample. It’s an anonymous online survey promoted through targeted social media ads, and it attracts people with recent experience of drug use.
The more representative NZ Health Survey puts past-year cocaine use at 3% of men and 1.9% of women in the year to June 2025. Among men aged 25 to 34, it’s 6.9%.
Both point the same way, and so does the sewage. Police wastewater testing put national cocaine consumption at about 6.8kg a week in the June 2026 quarter, roughly double the 3.3kg a week measured in early 2024. Police estimate the weekly social harm cost at $2.5 million.
The survey’s price data shows why. Adjusted for inflation, the average gram fell from $368 in 2017/18 to $247 this year, a drop of 32%. Massey links the fall to new supply routes through the Pacific and a glut in coca production.
Professor Chris Wilkins, who leads the survey team, says lower prices, easier access and growing social acceptance are all pushing use up.
“Cocaine use in NZ is in the ‘honeymoon’ phase where use looks glamorous and consequence-free, people are yet to experience the serious addiction and social harm that is well-known in mature cocaine markets like North America and Europe,” he says.
Respondents who said they were using more cocaine mostly pointed to availability, social acceptance and price. People using less cited the cost and worries about their mental and physical health.
Use is also getting more regular. The survey’s early-release bulletin shows the share of cocaine users taking it weekly doubled from 6% to 12% since 2017/18. Three-quarters were in full or part-time work.
Workplace testing tells a similar story. The Drug Detection Agency, which sells testing services, reported that cocaine made up 2.8% of positive workplace tests in the June 2026 quarter, up 68.5% on a year earlier. In Canterbury it was 3.1% of positives, up 375.8%.
Those are shares of positive results across pre-employment, random and post-incident tests combined, not a measure of how many workers use the drug. The agency doesn’t publish its test volumes.
Associate Professor James Foulds, a forensic psychiatrist and director of the Christchurch Health and Development Study at the University of Otago, told the Science Media Centre that the findings matched what he sees among people in contact with the justice system.
Dr Rhys Ponton, a senior lecturer in pharmacy at the University of Auckland, says cocaine’s short effect leads people to take repeated doses in a short period. Combined with a faster heart rate, it raises blood pressure, with risks up to and including stroke.
Professor Khylee Quince of AUT Law School says the drug’s reputation follows its users. “Cocaine users are likely to be employed and be high earners, so this perception is a form of confirmation bias – whereby people believe information that supports their views and behaviours – cocaine is ok, but meth is not.”
For employers, the legal position hasn’t changed. WorkSafe doesn’t require drug testing. It expects a business to manage impairment in proportion to the risk, with stronger controls in higher-risk work.
Employment New Zealand says any testing policy must be reasonable and set out in writing. Random testing may suit safety-sensitive roles, and targeted testing is for when someone’s behaviour or appearance suggests impairment.
Not everyone agrees on the response. Fiona Hutton, an associate professor in criminology at Victoria University of Wellington and a board member of drug-checking service KnowYourStuffNZ, warns against a “moral panic”. She favours harm reduction and drug checking, which is legal in New Zealand, and notes most users in the survey take cocaine monthly or less.
Even so, a cheaper drug, wider use and a reputation for being harmless add up to a risk that’s no longer limited to big cities.
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