LONDON, United Kingdom – August 2019: The Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom released data on deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales in 2018. The number of deaths related to drug poisoning was the highest in 2018 with 4,359 deaths and the annual increase (16 per cent) observed the largest since the time series began in 1993. Both, the males’ mortality rate significantly increased from 89.6 deaths per million males in 2017 to 105.4 in 2018 and the female rate increased for the ninth consecutive year to 47.5 deaths per 1 million females in 2018.

Deaths related to NPS halved from 123 deaths in 2016 to 61 deaths in 2017 but returned to the previous levels with 125 deaths in 2018. Deaths related to synthetic cannabinoids more than doubled from 24 deaths in 2017 to 60 deaths in 2018. Deaths related to cathinones also increased in comparison to the previous year, from 7 deaths in 2017 to 16 deaths in 2018.

Figure 1: Number of NPS-related deaths in England and Wales, by group, registered between 2014 and 2018

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2019.

Note: The sum of the individual groups does not equal the total number of NPS-related deaths. The definition of NPS used in the report differs from the definition used by UNODC.

For more information, please see:

Office for National Statistics, 2019. Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales: 2017 registrations. London.

UNODC Opioid Strategy and United Nations Toolkit on Synthetic Drugs

UNODC – Global Smart Update 21, 2019: Understanding the global opioid crisis