SCOTLAND, United Kingdom – August 2015: According to the National Records of Scotland, 613 people died as a result of drugs in 2014, marking a 16 per cent increase on the previous year according to the report on Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2014. The report covers statistics of drug-related deaths in 2014 and earlier years, broken down by age, sex, selected drugs reported, underlying cause of death and NHS Board and Council areas.

In total 114 deaths which involved the use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) were reported (1). There were 62 cases for which NPS were implicated in, or potentially contributed to the cause of death. In most of these cases, the only NPS present were benzodiazepine-type NPS mostly etizolam and to a lesser extent diclazepam and phenazepam. In 52 cases, NPS were present but were not considered to have contributed to the cause of death. Again, in most of these cases the only NPS present were benzodiazepine-type NPS. The age of death was mostly between 25 to 34 years closely followed by 35 to 44 years old and the majority of the deceased were male.

Note:
(1) 108 death cases of the 114 are included in the 613 drug-related deaths that are referred to earlier. Deaths which involved the use of NPS not counted in the statistics of the main report are e.g. cases where the deceased person appears to have used only an NPS that was not controlled at that time.

For further information please see:

http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/drug-related-deaths/drd14/drugs-related-deaths-2014.pdf

http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/drug-related-deaths-in-scotland/2014