Britain has become the "cocaine capital" of Europe after its use soared by 300 per cent in less than a decade.
It comes as Brits took an estimated 115 tonnes of the Class-A drug last year, an investigator with the National Crime Agency said.
Lawrence Gibbons, head of drugs threat at the National Crime Agency, said that the estimated amount trafficked had risen from 30 tonnes in 2011.
He told The Times : "The UK is the biggest user of powder cocaine in Europe.
"A lot of the consignments we see coming into Europe — through Spain, Belgium or the Netherlands mainly — a significant proportion is destined for the UK.
"In the 1980s it was seen as a middle-class drug, a commodity for bankers and professionals. That’s no longer the case, it doesn’t distinguish any more."
Mr Gibbons said "education and treatment" are needed to stop the demand - as arresting everyone would not be feasible.
He added: "People need to understand the harm that is done to families, loved ones, children.
"And users should learn about the reality of a trade that is run by criminal gangs who use guns, violence, trafficking and debt bondage."
Even during the lockdown, cocaine dealers are finding ways to deliver their drugs as some of them are using drones to avoid standing out on empty streets.
It is believed customers place bright towels in their gardens as markers to spot from the air.
The drug-loaded drone lands and the buyer collects their bag before meeting the dealer in a car park later to pay.
A source said: “It is the perfect way to beat lockdown. Dealers are worried about being pulled over if they go out but this lets them peddle from their own homes. Its a real boon.”
One dealer in Cheshire said he loads his drone, controlled via a tablet, with up to ten £50 bags of coke.
He said: “The police are stopping everyone so it’s risky driving drugs around. You stand out a mile.
“I forked out a grand and a half for this Phantom 4. I can attach ten bags a time. That’s £500 a go.
"I just fly it out from mine then make sure there’s a visible landing pad – something bright I’ll get customers to put on the ground. Then I’ll just control the landing, drop the gear off. Job done.
“I’ll collect the cash at supermarket car parks. That way I don’t have to be carrying any gear.
“I only ever have to leave the house to reload on the product and collect cash.”
Sussex Police said they are making “far more arrests” in the lockdown.
Last month, National Crime Agency director general Lynne Owens said some dealers are dressing as key workers to exploit the lockdown.
She said: “They are having to find new ways of working. Dealers recognise that with fewer people on the streets they are more visible.”
Police seized 9,645kg (9.6 tonnes) of cocaine in 2018/19 - the largest amount since records began in 1973.
Last year a Home Office drug review led by Professor Dame Carol Black found that middle-class drug takers were still heavy cocaine users.
The trade is largely controlled by Albanian organised criminals who manage the supply from source in Latin America through transportation into Europe and onwards into Britain.
However, county lines gangs who deal mainly in crack cocaine and heroin have also moved into the powder cocaine trade.
Officers from Devon and Cornwall Police stopped a driver on the M5 last week and they found £25k worth of cocaine inside his van.
Police said the driver had tried to throw his illegal haul out the van, but failed as the window was closed, Birmingham Live reports.
Officers tweeted: "This van was stopped on the M5 on its way into Devon. The white powder is approx £25000 worth of cocaine which was scattered all over the cab after its owner tried to throw it out of the window (which was closed!).
"Great Team effort with Firearms, Traffic and Scenes of Crime."
At the end of April, two men were charged with conspiracy to import Class A drugs after cocaine worth £3 million was discovered in a secret compartment in a lorry that had come by ferry from France to Dover.
Last month officers also found cocaine worth more than £1 million hidden in a consignment of protective face masks in a Polish-registered van en route to the UK through the Channel Tunnel.
