Drugs deaths double within past decade
DRUG deaths have more than doubled in Halton in the last 10 years according to latest data.
The Office For National Statistics (ONS) said there 22 registered deaths in the borough in 2014-16 were related to illicit substances, compared to nine in 2004-06.
According to the ONS figures the rate shot up from 2.4 per 100,000 residents to 6.1.
The number of drug deaths had remained steady in the first half of the 2000s, hovering around 10 deaths every three years and a rate of three per 100,000 residents, with the most severe jump around 2013.
Men were more likely to be affected than women.
Statisticians said most deaths are accidents.
The ONS reported that users in the 40-49 bracket were most likely drug to be affected, overtaking the 30-39 age range that had previously been the predominant group.
Researchers found that opiates, mainly heroin or morphine, were responsible for more than half of the 3,744 drug deaths (54%) across England and Wales in 2016.
They said other substances included legal and illegal compounds.
The highest drug death rates in England and Wales were in the North East, followed by Wales, then the North West.
Blackpool was the worst affected local authority area in England and Wales, with a whopping drug death rate of 22 fatalities per 100,000 residents, more than three times higher than in Halton. Researchers said fatalities involving the synthetic opioid tramadol had fallen.
The number of deaths involving cocaine, paracetamol, fentanyl, oxycodone and novel psychoactive substances increased, but the specific picture was more varied with ● mephedrone deaths falling and synthetic cannabinoids-related mortality increasing.
An ONS spokeswoman said drug death trends were broadly equivalent across England and Wales.
She added that sometimes the statistics do not account for the impact that taking more than one substance might have had.
She said: “Drug poisoning deaths involve a broad spectrum of substances, including legal and illegal drugs, prescription type drugs, either prescribed to the individual or obtained by other means, and over-the-counter medications.
“Some of these deaths may also be from complications of drug abuse, such as deep vein thrombosis or septicaemia from intravenous drug use, rather than an acute drug overdose. It is important to be aware that over half of all drug poisoning deaths involve more than one drug and-or alcohol, and it is not possible to tell which substance was primarily responsible for the death.”