Crime commissioner wants to see heroin on prescription
Police boss: Drug policy is failing as deaths soar
THE West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has stepped up calls for a change in drugs policy, after the number of people dying from drug use in the West Midlands reached the highest level since records began in 1993.
New official statistics show there were 521 deaths as a result of drug poisoning in the West Midlands over a three-year period, from 2016 to 2018.
That was up from 462 deaths in the three years before that, from 2013 to 2015. The figures cover the West Midlands Combined Authority area, including Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and the Black Country.
In Birmingham, there were 252 deaths between 2016 and 2018, up from 208 in the previous three-year period.
Birmingham also had the highest mortality rate in the West Midlands.
However, the death rate in Birmingham was lower than in big cities elsewhere, including Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds.
More men died than women, with 370 deaths among males in the West Midlands over three years and 151 among females.
Now West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson has repeated his call for the Government to rethink its approach to drug addiction, and treat addicts as people with a medical problem rath
There were 252 deaths related to drug poisoning in the city between 2016 and 2018 – the highest number since records began in 2001.
Numbers have risen by a fifth from 208 deaths between 2013 and 2015
Of the 252 deaths due to drug poisoning in Birmingham last year, 206 were due to drug misuse – a category that only relates to illegal drugs.
Birmingham saw 7.9 deaths due to drug poisoning per 100,000 people between 2016 and 2018. This compares to the England rate of 6.7 deaths per 100,000 people.
Across England and Wales, there were 4,359 deaths due to drug poisoning in 2018, up from 3,756 in 2017. Two-thirds of the deaths (2,917) were due to drug misuse.
Nationally, the most common drugs noted in the cause of death were heroin and morphine with 2,208, up from 1,985 in 2017.
er than criminals. He said: “The Government needs to change course and treat those addicted to drugs as having a health problem.
“The current national approach is failing and needs to change quickly to save lives and reduce crime.
“The Government should be more concerned about the gangs profiting from the misery of drugs, than those suffering from addiction, who need support and not just punishment.”
Mr Jamieson has called for heroin to be prescribed to people suffering from addiction who have not responded to other forms of treatment.
He also wants the Government to consider the benefits of drug consumption rooms, where drug users can access clean equipment, medical support and drug treatment services – and take drugs without fear of being arrested.
Experts say the explanation for the increase include more availability of heroin, due to a period of relative peace in Afghanistan.
But they also highlight cuts to drug and alcohol treatment services.
A survey by addiction treatment firm UKAT found that of West Midlands Councils that responded, £69 million was being spent on helping those struggling with addiction back in 2013 while the number has dropped to £45 million this financial year.
UKAT managing director Eytan Alexander said: “The ONS figures are saddening but unsurprising. We’ve highlighted the drastic reduction in budget cuts to substance misuse services every year since 2013 and, unfortunately, these figures now show the impact this is having on the most vulnerable people living across the West Midlands.
“It cannot be coincidence that as councils here slash drug and alcohol treatment budgets by £23 million over six years, the highest number of people on record lose their lives to drugs.”
Nationwide, drug-related deaths are the highest they have been since records began more than a quarter of a century ago.
There were 4,359 deaths from drug poisoning recorded in England and Wales in 2018 – the highest number since records began in 1993, the Office for National Statistics said.
The official body said it was also the highest annual increase since records began, rising 16 per cent (603 deaths) from 2017.
More than half of the deaths involved an opiate (2,208 deaths), while deaths from new psychoactive substances, or legal highs, doubled in a year to 125.
And deaths involving cocaine doubled over the three years to 2018, reaching their highest-ever level.
Dr Emily Finch, vice-chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ addictions faculty, said the rise should be a “wake-up call” to the Government that cuts have “starved” drug misuse services of money and are risking lives.
She said: “Decision makers need to wake up to the fact that swingeing cuts to services, disconnecting NHS mental health services from addiction services and shifting the focus away from harm reduction to abstinence-based recovery is fuelling the increase in drug-related deaths.”