Drop in the Annual Drug Related Deaths Rate

The National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (np-SAD) based at the International Centre for Drug Policy, St George's Hospital Medical School, has found that there has been a notable drop in the annual rate for drug related deaths from 1,583 in 2002 to 1,487 in 2003, a drop of six per cent. The report launched today by Melanie Johnson, Minister for Public Health, contains the latest surveillance report of drug-related deaths as reported by Coroners in the UK (England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man) for the year 2003.

Main findings are:

The majority of cases (70 per cent) were males and under the age of 45 years (73 per cent).

50 per cent of cases died from accidental poisoning. This is a reduction of 13 per cent compared with the previous year. However, there was an increase in the proportion of intentional self-poisoning cases from 19 per cent in 2002 to 37 per cent in 2003.
Opiates/opioids (i.e. heroin/morphine; methadone; other opiate/opioid analgesics), alone or in combination with other drugs, accounted for the majority of fatalities (74 per cent). Although heroin/morphine was still implicated in the majority of cases (36 per cent), a 19 per cent decrease of heroin/morphine-related death rates was observed with respect to the previous year.

There were 132 cocaine-related deaths, a rate similar to that observed in 2002. Both amphetamine and ecstasy related death rates decreased, respectively by 14 and 40 per cent, when compared with the previous year.

The GRO (Scotland) reported 317 drug-related deaths in 2003, 17per cent fewer than in 2002. Heroin/morphine was implicated in 55 per cent of cases and methadone in 27 per cent of cases.

In England and Wales, Brighton & Hove recorded the highest annual drug-related death rate per 100,000 population (25.3), followed by East Lancashire (13.9); Boston & Spalding (12.1) and Manchester (11.3).

Compared with the same period in 2002, the following jurisdictions reported significantly lower rates per 100,000 population aged 16 and over, than in the previous year: York (-398 per cent); Milton Keynes (-245 per cent); Oxfordshire
(-86.9 per cent); Cornwall (-79.2 per cent) and North Durham (-77.5 per cent).

Compared with 2002, the following jurisdictions reported significantly higher rates per 100,000 population aged 16 and over, than in the previous year: Southend & South East Essex (+574 per cent); Coventry (+ 337 per cent); Wrekin/Shropshire (+320 per cent) and Western Dorset (+141 per cent).

In commenting on the above data, Professor Hamid Ghodse, Director of the Centre for Drug Policy, St George's Hospital Medical School, said: "The findings of this report seem to indicate an overall decrease in drug-related deaths in the UK. This is excellent news and could well be the result of both the drug misuse monitoring and prevention initiatives promoted and carried out in the last few years. We hope that this trend will continue. However, there is the need for further vigilance and constant monitoring of the drug-related deaths situation. I would like to thank the Department of Health for their support for this very important Programme".