# The Guardian view on cocaine and domestic abuse: new links between drugs and crime need investigating | Editorial

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/the-guardian-view-on-cocaine-and-domestic-abuse-new-links-between-drugs-and-crime-need-investigating-editorial/
- Published: 2026-11-05T18:47:24+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-05T19:39:10+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/nov/05/the-guardian-view-on-cocaine-and-domestic-abuse-new-links-between-drugs-and-need-investigating
- Topics: Government, Health, Medicine, Politics, UK, World

## Key points

- Cocaine has overtaken heroin in drug deaths.
- Nearly six in 10 tested domestic abuse suspects had cocaine in their system.
- The article calls for renewed treatment funding and research.

## Summary

England and Wales recorded a slight fall in drug deaths, the first since 2012, but cocaine deaths have risen enough to overtake heroin deaths for the first time. New evidence of cocaine use among people arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse raises concerns about how changing drug patterns affect families and public health.

Nearly six in 10 drug tests on domestic abuse suspects were positive for cocaine in the year to June. The article also notes that drug deaths have more than doubled since the 1990s to 5,519, and that police and Border Force made a record 269,321 drug seizures in the year to March 2025. It argues that frozen treatment funding should be reconsidered, with research into cocaine and domestic abuse and a renewed, joined-up drug strategy.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.