Number of drug-related deaths rises to highest on record, the UK Government must now declare a public health emergency
Number of drug-related deaths rises to highest on record, the UK Government must now declare a public health emergency
The Office for National Statistics data released today shows 4,359 drug poisoning (i.e. ‘overdose’) deaths registered in 2018 in England and Wales, of which over two thirds (2,917) related to ‘drug misuse’. Drug misuse deaths are defined by the ONS as deaths: where the underlying cause is drug abuse or drug dependence; or deaths where the underlying cause is drug poisoning and where any of the substances controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 are involved.
2018 is now the year with the highest number of registered drug poisoning deaths since records began and, with a 16 per cent increase in drug poisoning deaths since last year, the highest year-on-year increase in deaths. The number of drug misuse deaths is over 3 times the number of such deaths registered when records began in 1993. (Talking Drugs, UK, 15.08.2019)