The Drug Foundation insists cocaine use is a rarity in New Zealand, despite a spate of drug-related arrests in Canterbury.
Police in Christchurch are appealing for information on anyone using cocaine as part of Operation Hook. Three people are facing drugs charges, following a joint police and Customs Service investigation.
But Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell isn't concerned there is a wider problem growing.
"New Zealand has never had a strong market in cocaine," he told RadioLIVE this morning.
"A lot of the traffickers in cocaine simply don't bother with New Zealand. We're not seen as a market that's going to make them a lot of money."
Mr Bell suspects the bust in Christchurch could be related to people there for the city's rebuild.
"We haven't heard from police that there is a specific issue they're seeing around cocaine, so maybe just in Canterbury they're seeing something quite localised. It might have something to do with the new workers that have moved to Christchurch to help with the rebuild."
He says research points to little more than 0.5 percent of the population using cocaine in the last year.
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