2024: Shocking increase in drug death figures released

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Shocking increase in drug death figures released today mean we are in a public health emergency, with the highest figures on record reported the new Government must act now to save lives.

LONDON – Drug related deaths are at an all-time high, with one of the highest recorded increases in year-on-year figures reported today.

The drug-related deaths figures from the Office for National Statistics highlight yet another year of failed policy approaches towards drug use, with tragic consequences for people using drugs in England and Wales. 5,448 deaths were recorded, with 3,618 deaths related to illegal substances. These figures are an 11% increase on last year. Deaths where cocaine is implicated have risen by 30.5% since 2022, and is one of the drivers for the historic high figures released today.

The North East of England continues to experience the highest rates of deaths, with the drug misuse death rate now at 108.5 per million, the highest this country has ever seen. The drug death rate in this region is triple that of London.

Opiates continue to be the most common drugs involved in the deaths (46.8%) with an increase on 2022’s opiate deaths of 12.8%. This data will not yet even capture the catastrophic impacts of synthetic opiates, that we have seen developing in the past year, as 64% of the deaths in ONS’s data did not take place in 2023.

The rise in cocaine deaths is tragic. The number of deaths in 2023 is now ten times higher than in 2012 (1,118 compared to 112).

For nearly a decade, we have seen year after year of record-breaking numbers of deaths, and this year has been no different; however, the reality for people using drugs is worsening given the increasing presence of synthetic opioids in the heroin market and now in the wider drugs supply.

The Labour Government needs to set a new course away from this worsening health disaster. It must take an evidence-based approach, reforming our laws to allow life-saving measures and to end the criminalisation of people who use drugs.

Niamh Eastwood, Executive Director of Release, said:

“This public health crisis is turning into a health catastrophe. Across England and Wales, those using drugs have been intentionally abandoned by the state. A growing number of adulterants within the drug supply have meant that drug supplies are more unpredictable than ever; more and more people are unknowingly exposed to a toxic drug supply, whether it be synthetic opiates or cocaine of unprecedented purity levels, with limited access to resources to stay safe.”

“We must act now to prevent more deaths, suffering, and health harms. Bold action, based on global evidence of what works to keep people safe from unregulated drug markets, is needed. In mainland Europe, countries that have decriminalised drug possession experience much lower rates of drug deaths – this approach saves lives and urgently needs to be implemented by the UK Government. It must also scale up harm reduction interventions, including drug consumption rooms and drug checking services. This Government has a chance to save lives through policy
reforms if it acts with urgency now. This is why we are calling on Wes Streeting and Yvette Cooper to implement reforms immediately.”

We have seen the damage that new synthetic opioids have caused across North America. In the UK, we are increasingly dealing with nitazenes, a family of synthetic opioids that are as potent (or more) than fentanyl. The National Crime Agency has already recorded 284 deaths associated with nitazenes since June 2023 – this figures are not captured in today’s data.

Unless decisive measures to prevent more deaths are taken, it is nearly guaranteed that drug related deaths will continue to spiral out of control as the deadly reality of nitazenes becomes more apparent.

Notes to the editor
1. Release is the UK national centre of expertise on drugs and drug laws, providing free and confidential specialist services to professionals, the public, and people who use drugs. Release also campaigns for the reform of UK drug policy, particularly the removal of criminal sanctions for possession offences, in order to bring about a fairer and more compassionate legal framework to managing drug use in our society.
2. The latest drug misuse death statistics can be found here
3. Solutions proposed to significantly reduce drug-related deaths:

  • Drug consumption rooms, a reality in Scotland and 20 other countries, must be urgently implemented across the UK.
  • Licenses for drug checking services must be streamlined to deliver low-threshold and scalable interventions to quickly respond to emerging threats.
  • Expand the range of opioid substitution medications available to patients, and reform the requirements on how people can engage with treatment services.
  • Ultimately, we need alternatives to drug criminalisation. This is not neither radical, nor ground-breaking; decriminalisation has been implemented in over 30 countries, and is rooted in global evidence on how to reduce drug-related deaths.

For media enquiries contact:
Niamh Eastwood – 07900 002632
Fenella Sentence – 0207 324 2973

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