We need to acknowledge the significant rise in women dealing cocaine and crack

One woman in every 10 men is prosecuted for drug-related crimes – this won’t have gone unnoticed by those further up the criminal chain, writes Ian Hamilton

Some dealers during the pandemic adopted key worker uniforms to avoid detection (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

If you’re a regular user of cocaine you won’t be surprised to know that more women are being convicted of supplying and dealing the drug. Despite female drug prosecutions falling between 2013 and 2019, those convicted for cocaine and crack have risen from 145 to 270 a rise of 80 per cent. This of course will represent just a fraction of those who were “unlucky” enough to have been caught and prosecuted.  

A significant increase in female deaths relating to cocaine use, follows increased usage. Last year saw the highest number of female cocaine-related deaths on record, a rise of 26.5 per cent was recorded by the Office for National Statistics. These deaths were not spread equally as the report highlighted how drug-related deaths were concentrated in the most socially deprived communities.

Some clues as to why more women are dealing are contained in the Ministry of Justice report. Sixty-one per cent of female prisoners were in receipt of free school meals compared to only 17 per cent for those not in prison. Poverty has always been an effective recruiting sergeant into the drugs trade, as employment has become more precarious with the rise in zero-hour contracts it’s little wonder that the potential to make money from drugs has an appeal.