Drugs 1, 2 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All drug-related deaths (on the "wide" definition) |
495 |
551 |
566 |
493 |
546 |
480 |
577 |
630| |
737 |
Amphetamines |
3 |
5 |
13 |
10 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
12| |
13 |
Anti-depressants 3 |
78 |
93 |
82 |
83 |
86 |
67 |
93 |
84| |
150 |
Anti-psychotics 4 |
12 |
10 |
8 |
8 |
11 |
5 |
21 |
26| |
39 |
Benzodiazepines 5 |
165 |
185 |
248 |
189 |
140 |
110 |
94 |
109| |
370 |
Cannabis |
24 |
23 |
35 |
21 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
8| |
44 |
Cocaine |
4 |
20 |
31 |
30 |
38 |
44 |
33 |
47| |
84 |
Diazepam |
147 |
159 |
217 |
154 |
113 |
90 |
78 |
79| |
323 |
Ecstasy-type |
12 |
21 |
20 |
15 |
17 |
10 |
12 |
12| |
7 |
Heroin/diamorphine or Morphine 6 |
218 |
221 |
250 |
176 |
226 |
194 |
260 |
291| |
339 |
Methadone |
56 |
71 |
100 |
91 |
80 |
71 |
96 |
115| |
186 |
Paracetamol or a compound 7 |
120 |
127 |
117 |
85 |
107 |
62 |
53 |
56| |
73 |
Temazepam |
39 |
20 |
16 |
37 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
4| |
12 |
Tramadol |
1 |
8 |
6 |
15 |
11 |
16 |
17 |
26| |
35 |
Alcohol |
164 |
186 |
190 |
168 |
145 |
134 |
151 |
181| |
308 |
1. More than one drug may be reported per death. These are mentions of each drug, so do not add up to the overall total.
Up to 2007, some pathologists reported only those drugs which they thought caused, or contributed to, the death
With effect from 2008, pathologists were asked to report all the drugs which were found to be present in the body.
This accounts for most (if not all) of the apparent large increases for (e.g.) benzodiazepines, diazepam and alcohol.
There may be other differences between years and/or areas in the way in which the information was produced - see Section 2.
2. The figures for some of the "controlled" drugs may differ slightly from those given in earlier tables for two reasons.
First, they were produced from GROS's new database, rather than the old database (see paragraph A4).
Second, a small proportion of the deaths which involved controlled drugs were excluded from the figures
which appear in the earlier tables, for reasons such as those given in paragraph A3.
3. e.g. amitriptyline, citalopram, dothiepin, fluoexetine, prothaiaden
4. e.g. chlorpromazine, clozapine, olanzapine
5. including diazepam and temazepam (which appear separately below)
6. see paragraph 3.3.1 of commentary.
7. e.g. co-codamol or co-proxamol, or mention of dextropropoxyphene or propoxyphene (even if there is no mention of paracetamol or a compound analgesic)