News
RECORD DRUG DEATHS NORTH
AND SOUTH OF THE BORDER
THE HIGHEST EVER LEVELS OF DRUG-RELATED DEATHS
have once again been recorded in both Scotland and
England. Last year saw 3,744 drug poisoning deaths in
England and Wales, according to the latest ONS figures –
2 per cent higher than the previous year (DDN, October
2016, page 4) and the highest number since comparable
statistics began almost a quarter of a century ago. While
the figure relates to both legal and illegal drugs, almost
70 per cent were classed as drug misuse deaths, and
death rates were highest in the 40-49 age range.
Scotland recorded 867 drug-related deaths in 2016, 23
per cent higher than the previous year and more than
double the number from a decade ago. Scotland’s drug
death rate is now higher than anywhere in the EU, and
roughly two and a half times higher than the UK as a whole.
More than two thirds of the Scottish deaths were
among males, and nearly a third were in the Greater
Glasgow and Clyde NHS board area. Nearly 40 per cent of
the deaths were of people aged between 35 and 44, and
a quarter were among those aged 45 to 54, with the
median age at death 41. Opioids were implicated in, or
‘potentially contributed to’, almost 90 per cent of
Scotland’s fatalities, and benzodiazepines almost half.
Figures from National Records of Scotland also show that
alcohol-related deaths north of the border have increased
by 10 per cent since 2015 to 1,265, the highest number
since the start of the decade.
In England and Wales, however, while more than half of
recorded drug poisoning deaths involved an opiate, heroin
and/or morphine deaths have remained ‘stable’, says
ONS – at 1,209 compared with 1,201 in 2015. The number
of heroin and/or morphine deaths in males also fell for the
first time since 2012 – to 935 from the previous year’s 957
– although female heroin/morphine deaths increased from
244 to 274, their highest recorded level. Deaths related to
cocaine were also at their highest ever level, at 371 – up by
almost 170 per cent since 2012 – while deaths relating to
the prescription drug pregabalin have increased from just
four in 2012 to more than 100. The National Crime Agency
(NCA) also announced that the number of UK deaths
related to the powerful opioid fentanyl or its analogues
HEAVY ISSUES
HEAVY DRINKING will cost the NHS £17bn
over the next five years – including 63,000
deaths and 4.2m hospital admissions – unless
current trends are reversed, according to a
report from the Foundation for Liver Research.
Admissions have increased by around 17 per
cent since 2010-11, while alcohol-related liver
disease accounts for 60 per cent of all liver
disease and 84 per cent of liver-related
deaths. The document calls for off-licence
trading hours to be restricted to 10am-10pm,
along with tougher regulation of marketing
and advertising. Financial case for action on
liver disease at www.liver-research.org.uk
4 | drinkanddrugsnews | September 2017
has reached almost 60
in the last eight
months alone. Once
again, the North East
saw the highest
mortality rate from
drug misuse, at 77.4
deaths per 1m
population, a 13 per
cent increase on 2015’s
figure.
Release’s executive
director Niamh
Eastwood called the
statistics a ‘national
crisis’ and accused the
government of
‘abrogating’ its
responsibility by
cutting investment in
treatment services
niamH eastwooD
and pursuing ‘failed’
policies, while Transform called the figures a ‘direct result
of the Home Office’s scandalous approach’ to drugs.
Announcement of the figures followed publication of
the delayed 2017 drug strategy earlier in the summer, and
while the document promised a ‘national recovery
champion’ and a cross-government drug strategy board to
be chaired by the home secretary, its focus on a law
enforcement approach disappointed some commentators.
The strategy also included changes to the way the ‘long-
term success of treatment’ is determined, with a
requirement on services to ‘carry out additional checks to
track the progress of those in recovery at 12 months, as
well as after six, to ensure they remain drug-free’.
Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and
Wales: 2016 registrations at www.ons.gov.uk
Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2016 at
nrscotland.gov.uk
Alcohol-related deaths at www.nrscotland.gov.uk
2017 drug strategy at www.gov.uk
Government
pursuing
‘failed’ policies
GET TESTED
PHE IS RENEWING CALLS for people to get
tested for hepatitis C as a ‘substantial
proportion’ of the estimated 200,000 people
living with the virus are likely to be unaware
that they have it. Around a third of those
with a long-term infection are believed to be
over 50 and may have become infected ‘years,
or even decades, earlier’, stresses the agency.
While death rates are falling, figures for
estimated rates of infection among people
who use drugs remain largely unchanged
since the beginning of the decade. ‘We
ORANGE UPDATE
THE GOVERNMENT has published the updated
version of its Drug misuse and dependence:
UK guidelines on clinical management,
usually called the Orange Book. The 2017
version has a ‘stronger emphasis on recovery
and a holistic approach to the interventions
that can support recovery’, and includes new
guidelines on NPS, club drugs, mental health,
prison-based treatment and naloxone.
Guidelines at www.gov.uk
NALOXONE NUMBERS
TAKE-HOME NALOXONE has now been made
available by 90 per cent of English local
authorities, according to an LGA