NEWS ROUND-UP
Deaths involving nitazenes quadruple in a year
There were 5,565 deaths related to drug poisoning registered in England and Wales in 2024, according to ONS figures – up from 5,448 the previous year, and the highest number since records began in 1993. Just under half of all drug poisoning involved an opiate or opioid, while almost 200 involved a nitazene – nearly four times the number in 2023. Of the 5,565 deaths, 3,736 were identified as drug misuse
The highest death rate was among people aged 40-49, with the average age of drug misuse deaths 45 for males and 48 for females. Men accounted for two thirds of drug poisoning deaths overall. As has been the case for the past 12 years, the North East had the highest death rate while the East of England had the lowest. The largest increase in drug poisoning deaths was in
London, however – from 500 to 662.
Deaths involving
150 cocaine were up by 14 per cent, to 1,279 –
125 the 13th consecutive increase. Cocaine has 100 been the second-most
75 commonly used drug in England and Wales after
50 cannabis for a decade now, with three quarters
25 of cocaine-related deaths occurring among 0 men. Other‘ significant’ drugs included on death certificates were pregabalin( 617 deaths), diazepam( 302), amphetamine( 111), fentanyl( 60) and ketamine( 60). Delays in registration of the deaths mean that more than half of the fatalities included in the current statistics occurred in previous years, ONS points out. A recent study by King’ s
College London estimated
Drug deaths in England and Wales, 1994-2024, rate per million people
1994 1996
Total Men Women
1998 2000
2002 2004
2006 2008 the true number of opioidrelated deaths in England and Wales to be more than 50 per cent higher than official figures, as ONS relies on the information provided on death certificates and does not have access to toxicology results or post-mortem reports. This means it cannot determine
2010 2012
2014 2016
2018
Source: ONS
2020 2022
2024 the substances involved if the death is the result of polydrug use and has been recorded with‘ ambiguous terms such as“ multidrug overdose”’, the researchers pointed out.
Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales: 2024 registrations at https:// bit. ly / 47qzyY4
Teenage drinking and drug use down across Europe
Border Force seizes £ 1bn of cocaine in three months
TEENAGE DRINKING, SMOKING AND CANNABIS USE is continuing to decline across Europe, according to the latest findings of the European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs( ESPAD). However, a rise in e-cigarette use and non-medical use of pharmaceutical drugs are among the factors that point to‘ a generation in profound transition’, the document states.
The findings also reveal a‘ sharp increase’ in online gaming, gambling and social media use among teenagers. The transitional trends are‘ most striking among girls, where long-standing gender gaps in substance use appear to be narrowing or even reversing’ say researchers.
The study, which was carried out in collaboration with EUDA, is based on the participation of almost 114,000 15-16-year-olds across 37 European countries in 2024. Cannabis was the most widely used illicit drug overall, with 12 per cent of respondents saying they’ d used it at least once in their lifetime. On average, 44 per cent reported having used e-cigarettes at least once, with 16 per cent having tried them at age 13 or younger. Early e-cigarette use was‘ more common among girls than boys in the majority of countries’, the report states.
Among the emerging challenges for policy and practice were prioritising mental health and wellbeing in schools and communities, expanding evidencebased prevention, and urgent action to limit young people’ s‘ early exposure to digital risks’ – including stronger measures to prevent underage access to online gambling, the report says.
Document at https:// www. espad. org / espad-report-2024
THE BORDER FORCE confiscated almost 15 tonnes of cocaine worth more than £ 1bn between 1 June and 31 August, the Home Office has announced –‘ equivalent to the weight of a London double decker bus’. The amount is more than half of the entire total seized last year and is greater than combined seizures for the whole of 2022-23.
More traffickers are now concealing their drugs in high value equipment to deter enforcement action‘ with the threat of a large damages bill’, the Border Force adds, with officers‘ using technology and intelligence more than ever to overcome these tactics’.
A report by the Insight Crime think tank earlier this year said that record breaking cocaine seizures were‘ now the norm’ globally, the result of huge increases in Colombian cocaine production in recent years( DDN, November 2024, page 5). Deaths involving cocaine in England and Wales rose by 30 per cent between 2022 and 2023( DDN, November 2024, page 4).
4 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • NOVEMBER 2025 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM