The National Bureau of Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday that England and Wales last year recorded the highest number of fatal drug overdose since 1993. Cocaine and opioids were blamed on rising trends.
In 2020, England and Wales recorded approximately 4561 fatal overdose cases, at a rate of 76.7 per million people-an increase of 3.8% since 2019.
Almost half of drug poisonings are related to opioids, and deaths caused by cocaine use have soared by 9.7%.
The National Bureau of Statistics of the United Kingdom said: “The number of drug-related deaths has been on the rise over the past ten years.”
“The overall trend is mainly driven by deaths involving opioids, but it has also been driven by an increase in deaths involving cocaine and other substances.”
Read here | The number of deaths from drug overdose in the United States soars to a record 93,000 in 2020: data
The official statistics agency stated that it is “too early” to assess any impact of the coronavirus lockdown on the data due to the long delay between the occurrence of deaths and the registration of deaths.
The death rate from drug use has shown a “significant” divergence between the north and south of England, with the northeast showing the largest increase.
London has the lowest interest rate.
Scotland, which has the highest drug death rate in Europe, announced last week that more than 1,300 people will die from drug abuse in 2020-a number that has risen for the seventh consecutive year.
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