Melbourne! Cocaine capital of Australia! Rumour has it even the winds blow traces of nose candy through the streets. Might explain why everyone is always so antsy. Yes, I’m from Sydney, but now that reports have confirmed VIC has overtaken NSW in numbers of cocaine users, I can make these kinds of jokes.
Legally I probably can’t call the whole lot of you Melburnians crackheads, but I mean, science doesn’t really lie now, does it?
According to the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, around 5.2% of Victorians admit to using cocaine. The keyword here is admit. This is slightly higher than the NSW percentage of cocaine users, which currently sits at 5%. The real percentage probably sits higher for both states, but with what we know, Melbourne has trumped Sydney.
According to a stunning report on the matter from The Age, despite Victoria taking over, it doesn’t really change the fact that 50% of Australia’s cocaine-snorting comes from NSW. That’s a whole lot of bump.
In fact, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission reports that from 2019-2020, New South Whalians ingested three TONNES of cocaine. That’s more snow than Perisher on a good day. (That was a joke btw, please don’t look that up.)
On the other hand, Victorians ingested around 1.2 tonnes of coke, an increase suspected to be the result of an intense lockdown in 2020.
Sam Biondo, executive officer of the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association, told The Age that throughout the pandemic, there was a noticeable increase in cocaine users across the state.
“We noticed a dramatic increase in cocaine use and cocaine presentations,” Biondo told The Age.
“In some regions, it is now the second most prevalent drug of concern among people engaging in treatment. Other regions have a greater prevalence of ice, others GHB.
“Some have come to treatment due to the cost of purchasing cocaine, having already exhausted their superannuation to maintain usage patterns.”
So there you have it, folks. A big congratulations to Victorians for surpassing us New South Whalians. You’ve racked more lines than our nostrils could bear to handle, and for that, you deserve this title of most coke snorters in Australia.
Stay safe out there!
