Cocaine Use Falls in US as Ketamine, Psychedelics Rise
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- Cocaine use among Americans has fallen from 6.7% during the drug's 1980s heyday to 1.5% in 2024, with past-year users dropping from 5.9 million in 2017 to 4.3 million in 2024, according to National Survey on Drug Use data.
- Gen Z is driving the shift: 18-25-year-old use fell from 2.1 million in 2017 to 811,000 in 2024, and ex-Vice global drugs editor Max Daly says young Americans view cocaine as "ethically very dodgy" and tied to heavy-drinking nightlife culture they're rejecting.
- Ketamine, psychedelics, GHB, and 3-MMC are filling the void in US club scenes; a long-time northeast US raver told the outlet cocaine "can double down on people's anxiety and depression" while ketamine "often leaves a more positive mark."
- Cocaine overdose deaths rose from 10,475 in 2016 to 22,174 in 2024 despite falling use — a paradox experts attribute to record 88% average purity (up from 54% in 2020) and deliberate "speedball" injection rather than fentanyl contamination.
- Andrew Yockey, assistant professor of public health at the University of Mississippi, says the US drug landscape is shifting "from single-drug trends to a messier, mixed-drug environment," with NIST chemists regularly detecting novel substances.
- Donald Trump has used alleged Venezuelan involvement in cocaine trafficking to justify his Venezuela campaign, even as US demand wanes, while the US has continued extrajudicial strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, killing at least 177 people.
Why it matters: Federal cocaine-war policy at home and abroad is built on an outdated premise: US demand is collapsing — gen Z has cut use by more than 60% since 2017 — yet overdose deaths doubled to 22,174 in 2024 because seized purity hit 88%. The market Americans are actually using has moved to ketamine and psychedelics, and Caribbean strikes killing 177 people are aimed at a trade the domestic market is walking away from.
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