Codeine deaths more than double in decade
212 fatalities linked to the painkiller in 2020 – most as a result of combining it with other drugs for effect
Codeine-related deaths spiked by almost 25 per cent in the last year to a record high, figures showed yesterday.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data revealed that 212 people died of poisoning from the drug in 2020. This is up from 167 in 2019, 169 in 2018 and 156 in 2017 and the highest number of Codeine fatalities in a calendar year since records began in 1993. The 212 deaths in 2020 is more than double the 91 in 2010.
Ian Hamilton, a lecturer at the University of York, said: “It is sad to see this rise in deaths due to codeine, as with other drugs most people die as a result of combining drugs either to achieve a particular effect or to counter the effect of one drug by taking another.
“Codeine can cause confusion so it can be difficult to remember how much you have taken, some will have accidentally taken more of the drug than they realised and overdose as a consequence.
“It is also not uncommon, despite the warnings, for people to drink alcohol while taking codeine, the combined effect can seriously hamper breathing and potentially be fatal.
“Increasing use of the darknet to source painkillers which are restricted in the UK makes it relatively easy for people to source drugs like codeine without having to leave their house, suppliers compete to deliver these pills at low prices and in discrete packaging.
“Suppliers won’t place any limits on how many pills an individual orders, providing they can pay for them.”
The ONS reveals the total number of drug deaths for all substances reached an all-time high in 2020, with 4,561.
Two thirds of these were linked to drug misuse and men accounted for three quarters of drug misuse deaths. Half of all drug deaths were due to opiates, with heroin and morphine the biggest contributors, killing 1,337 last year.
The ONS said deaths from heroin and morphine are increasing despite the number of new addicts falling. “This indicates higher rates of death among existing long-term drug users,” it says.
One explanation is an ageing cohort of users who are long-term addicts and therefore are “increasingly susceptible to a fatal overdose”. Some refute this.
“There are at least two problems with this,” said Prof Alex Stevens at the University of Kent. “One is that these deaths are not rising in London, so there must be something more complex going on.
The other is we have known for years that a cohort with high levels of risk was growing older and more vulnerable. Instead of investing in services to keep them alive, this funding has been cut.
“The recommendation of the 2016 Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs report was to maintain investment in opioid substitution therapy (the treatment with the greatest evidence for saving these lives). Instead, the Government continued to cut this funding.”
Other opiates, such as methadone and tramadol, accounted for 516 and 203 deaths, respectively. Deaths linked to paracetamol soared to the highest in more than a decade, with the over-thecounter drugs killing 235 people.
Cocaine deaths also reached a record high, with 777 fatalities, accounting for one in six of all drug deaths. Gen Xers, born between 1970 and 1979, and now in their mid to late 40s, had the highest rate of drug misuse deaths. People of this era have been the biggest source of drug deaths for the past 25 years.
James Nicholls, CEO of Transform Drug Policy Foundation said: “These grim statistics are a clear signal that an urgent change of course is needed in UK drug policy. Evidence from around the world points to interventions that can help reduce drug deaths, but these have been repeatedly rejected by governments obsessed with more enforcement and police-led crackdowns.”