The latest New Zealand Drugs Trends Survey (NZDTS) shows cocaine reached "record levels" in 2025 nationally and Otago did not buck the trend.
Over a six-month period, 20% of the Otago sample pool reported using cocaine — in 2024 that was 16% and in 2022 to 2023 it was 9%.
Perceptions on the drug being hard to access and unaffordable had also dropped, with 43% of people believing it was "easy" to get.
In 2022 to 2023, that percentage was 7%.
New Zealand Police Otago Coastal area commander Inspector Matenga Gray said the use of cocaine had increased across New Zealand but it was difficult to identify a specific cause.
"The availability and pricing play a significant role in illicit drug consumption."
In November last year, 35kg of cocaine was seized by customs officers from a shipping container in Port Chalmers, a catch worth $12.25 million.
The container, which originated in South America, was flagged by Customs intelligence for inspection before it arrived at Port Chalmers on October 26.
Inside were 35 bricks of "Lacoste" branded cocaine.
The NZDTS 2026 drug trends survey said in recent years there had been "record-breaking coca cultivation" reported in Colombia — a major cocaine manufacturing hub.
This fuelled significant expansion internationally, with product mainly funnelled into the United States and Europe, but increasingly more into Oceania, the survey said.
It said the international cocaine market was the world’s fastest-growing illegal drug market.
"New Zealand wastewater drug testing found in the third quarter of 2025, average cocaine consumption was 43% above the average quantity consumed over the previous four quarters," it said.
Cocaine came to New Zealand primarily by going from South America into countries in the Pacific before coming into various ports around the country, it said.
New Zealand paid some of the highest prices in the world for cocaine.
The average price for a gram was $360, however the price fluctuated by region.
In Otago, the average price was $368 — lower than Southland where $411 per gram was the norm, and Canterbury where a gram cost on average $377, the survey said.
