Cocaine offences at Oktoberfest rise nearly 50 percent

Police recorded 122 drug offences at Munich’s Oktoberfest by Saturday, nearly 50 percent more than during the same period last year, BR24 reports. Almost all cases involved cocaine, which has become the most common stimulant drug recorded by investigators.

In one case, a man spread several lines of white powder across his smartphone screen, which was lying on the ground in front of him. Police intervened before he could take the drug and found more cocaine during a search.

The police recorded 86 drug offences at the same point last year. Markus Neueder, head of the narcotics department at the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, said the increase reflected a desire among some users to have more fun, try more things and take greater risks.

Jakob Schmidkonz, a group leader responsible for narcotics at the Munich I public prosecutor’s office, said the Oktoberfest highlighted a development investigators had been observing for years. In Munich cases involving larger quantities of drugs, cocaine accounted for about a quarter in 2020. By 2025, that share had risen to around 75 percent.

Experts at the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office attributed the increase to a global development. Demand for cocaine in the United States is falling as other drugs, including opioids, dominate the market. This has contributed to overproduction in Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador, the drug’s main countries of origin. Cartels have increasingly targeted Europe as a new market, Schmidkonz said.

He expects cocaine could soon replace heroin as the most common cause of drug-related deaths. “We will soon be talking about cocaine as the number one killer,” he said.

Prices have also fallen as supply has increased. Stefan Wenger, deputy head of adult support at the Condrobs drug support service, said cocaine once cost about 100 euros per gram but now sometimes sells for less than 70 euros. As a result, the number of users has increased and users have become younger, he said.

Investigators also report that cocaine has become more concentrated. While the drug was often diluted several times in the past, its active ingredient now frequently exceeds 80 percent, according to Bavarian authorities. This makes it more dangerous.

Wenger said cocaine primarily causes psychological dependence. Users can quickly find it difficult to manage social situations or enjoy a moment without taking the drug. Tolerance also develops rapidly, leading users to take increasingly higher doses and raising the physical risk, including the risk of a heart attack.

The consequences are reflected in Bavaria’s latest figures. Of the 250 drug-related deaths recorded in the state last year, 39 were attributed to cocaine.