Australian dealers have become the new source of income for cocaine traffickers who used to aim for highly paid white-collar professions, according to new research.
The number of plumbers, carpenters and electricians using the illicit substance has doubled, according to data released by Flinders University.
Male dealers aged 18 to 24 have become the largest market for cocaine, with one in eight admitting to using the drug, which costs around $300 a gram.
Flinders University researchers Alice McEntee, Ann Roche and Susan Kim found that the number of workers employed as dealers using cocaine has doubled to almost one in ten.
The researchers published their academic findings based on the National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), which collects information on illicit drug use, as well as alcohol and tobacco consumption among Australians.
The number of Australian tradies using cocaine has doubled, according to damning new research from Flinders University (file image pictured)
The research also found that the number of people using cocaine in Australia is now four times greater than the number of people using the drug in 2004.
Anecdotally, one builder said he was forced to take drastic measures to curb cocaine use after his staff continued to test positive for the drug.
‘We have had many people using cocaine. I’ve had to let people go because I’m doing random drug tests and they’re failing because of cocaine,’ the builder said. Newscorp.
“It used to be marijuana because it stays in your system longer, but now it’s cocaine — it’s 100 percent more common.”
Another employee in the construction sector said that this substance is talked about in the workplace and that more and more merchants are buying the drug because they can now afford the expensive product thanks to higher salaries.
Builders and workers employed in the construction sector said they have noticed more workers talking about the illicit substance (pictured) in the workplace.
CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith, a senior leader of Australia’s largest construction union, said the health and safety of industry workers will always be the top priority.
Smith told the newspaper that despite the shocking results of the investigation, the construction sector should not be singled out as an industry susceptible to cocaine use.
“Demonizing workers in one of Australia’s most dangerous industries is completely unfair given cocaine use is obviously not limited to any one industry,” Mr Smith said.
The latest NDSHS survey found that almost one in five Australians had used an illicit drug between 2022 and 2023.
The number of Australians who used cocaine between 2019 and 2023 increased by 4.5 per cent.
A construction worker said more dealers are buying the drug as they can now afford to buy the illicit substance (file image pictured).
Workers in the construction industry have been bolstered by new pay deals to boost their weekly earnings.
Construction unions in Queensland successfully negotiated an agreement with Queensland Premier Steven Miles to increase wages for industry workers by $10 an hour over the next four years, until 2027.
The pay rise means skilled tradesmen and carpenters will receive almost $1,948 a week.
Crane operator salaries will increase to $2,394 and a fourth-year adult electrical apprentice will earn $44 per hour.