LEGALISING cocaine and taking it out of the hands of ‘kitchen table dealers’ could cut a growing number of drugs deaths across Cumbria and the North West, according to campaigners. Drug use has stolen the lives of almost 1,000 people in Cumbria in less than 20 years, with drug deaths in the area reaching record levels in 2020. And across the wider region, cocaine was linked to more drugs deaths that year than ever before, according to analysis of the UK's most recent drug poisoning statistics. Since 1993, 1,144 deaths linked to cocaine have been recorded in the North West – and in more than a quarter of those cases, no other drugs were involved. A fatal drugMore than 700 deaths linked to cocaine were registered across England and Wales in 2020, according to the most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Source: The Star April 18, 2022 04:44 UTC