1. More than one drug may be reported per death. These are mentions of each drug, and should not be added to give total deaths. Up to 2007, some pathologists reported only those drugs which they thought caused, or contributed to, the death. With effect from 2008, pathologists report separately (a) drugs which were implicated in, or which potentially contributed to, the cause of death and (b) other drugs which were present but which were not considered to have had any direct contribution to the death. The figures in this table are on the first basis - i.e. basis (a) - which is now the standard basis for figures for individual drugs. They are on a different basis from those published in Table HB3 of 'Drug-related Deaths in Scotland in 2008' and earlier editions. There may be other differences between years and/or areas in the way in which the information was produced - more information can be found in Section 2 of the commentary.
2. More information can found in paragraph 3.3.1 of the commentary.

NB: the figures for each area are based on the Board boundaries that apply with effect from 1st April 2014.