Cocaine use continues to soar in New Zealand

Wastewater data shows use of the Class A drug averaged about 6.4 kilos a week across the country, in the third quarter of 2025.

That's 43-percent above the average amount consumed in the previous four.

Auckland is emerging as our cocaine capital - with consumption in the past year of 271 milligrams per day per one-thousand people.

In quarter three it was narrowly ahead of Bay of Plenty - which averaged 325 milligrams consumed per one-thousand people each day.