England and Wales last year registered the highest number of fatal drug overdoses since records began in 1993, with cocaine and opiates blamed for the rising trend, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday. Some 4 561 fatal overdoses were registered in England and Wales in 2020, at a rate of 76.7 per million people - a 3.8 percent jump since 2019. Almost half of all drug poisonings involved an opiate, while there was a 9.7 percent jump in deaths due to cocaine use. "The overall trend is driven primarily by deaths involving opiates, but also by an increase in deaths involving other substances like cocaine." The rates of drug misuse deaths showed a "marked" divide between the north and south of England, with the northeast recording the sharpest rise.

Source: News 24 August 03, 2021 15:11 UTC