DRUG-RELATED deaths in England and Wales have risen to their highest level since records began.
Figures released yesterday revealed that 4359 people died from drug poisoning last year, 16% up on the 3756 deaths in 2017. That equates to roughly 76 deaths per million people, which is still much lower than the rate of fatalities in Scotland, where figures released last month revealed there were 218 drug deaths for every million people.
The latest statistics indicate a north-south divide with deaths in the north higher than any other region in England or Wales.
Blackpool had 177 deaths per million, while London had just 34.9 per million.
Ben Humberstone of the Office for National Statistics said: “The number of deaths from drug use in 2018 was the highest since our records began. We have also seen the biggest year-on-year percentage increase. We produce these figures to help inform decision-makers working towards protecting those at risk of dying from drug poisoning.”
The figures showed the death rate in men grew significantly from 89.6 per million in 2017 to 105.4 per million last year. It was more than double the female death rate of 47.5 per million.
Emily Finch, vice-chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ addictions faculty, said government needed “to wake up to the fact that swingeing cuts to services, disconnecting NHS mental health services from addiction services and shifting the focus away from harm reduction to abstinence-based recovery is destroying lives and fuelling the increase in drug-related deaths.”
The Transform Drug Policy Foundation said the rate of drug deaths in the UK was now more than double the European average, and 12 times that of Portugal.
Dr James Nicholls from the foundation called for a change in policy: “These deaths are an avoidable tragedy and each one represents a brother, sister, parent or friend who has left loved ones behind.”
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