Drug deaths in England and Wales reach record levels
More than 3,300 people died from drug poisoning in 2014 in England and Wales, the highest figure since modern records began in 1993, the Office for National Statistics says.
4 Sep 2016According to its latest report, two thirds involved illegal drugs.
Cocaine-related deaths rose to 247 - up from 169 in 2013, while deaths from heroin and/or morphine increased by 579 to 952 between 2012 and 2014.
The Department of Health said any drug-related death was a tragedy.
But while in England there was a 17% rise in the drug misuse mortality rate in 2014, up to 39.7 per million head of population, in Wales the rate fell by 16% to 39 deaths per million, the lowest since 2006.
The number of people dying from drugs misuse in Wales fell by 20% to 168 last year, down from 208 recorded deaths in 2013.
Legal drugs which were misused and associated with deaths during this period include Tramadol, linked to 240 cases, codeine, which was associated with 136, and Diazepam, linked to 258.
Of the 3,346 drug poisoning deaths registered in 2014, illegal drugs were involved with 2,248 cases.
Males were more than 2.5 times more likely to die from drug misuse than females, the report says.
People aged 40 to 49 had the highest mortality rate from drug misuse - 88.4 deaths per million population - followed by people aged 30 to 39 - 87.9 deaths per million.
Click here to read the full article
Doctors can lead the way to healthier drug policies – join IDHDP now
Share this on:
