FOI ref: FOI-2023-1316
You asked
I request the following information:
- The amount of people in the UK using drugs
- The number of deaths related to drug poisoning in the UK in 2022?
- The number of deaths related to drug poisoning in the UK in 2023 so far?
For both of these figures, I'd like to know:
- How many of these deaths were accidental and how many were intentional self-poisoning
- A breakdown of the different substance types - ie. how many deaths were caused by opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, cannabis, etc.
Also:
- The amount of adults in the UK in contact with drugs and alcohol services between April 2022-March 2023
- The number of adults entering treatment for drug addictions from April 2022-March 2023
- A breakdown of what substance groups these adults were in
- How many of these adults were addicted to cocaine
- If possible, I would also like these statistics for financial years of 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for mortality data for England and Wales, driven by information collected from the death certificate at death registration. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
Unfortunately, we do not hold information on the amount of people using drugs in England and Wales, as we do not collect this information unless it relates to a death. We also do not hold data on the following:
- The number of adults in the UK in contact with drugs and alcohol services between April 2022-March 2023
- The number of adults entering treatment for drug addictions from April 2022-March 2023
- A breakdown of what substance groups these adults were in.
How many of these adults were addicted to cocaine.
NHS Digital may be better placed to assist. They can be contacted via email at enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk. The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) may also be able to assist. They can be contacted via email at dhsc.publicenquiries@dhsc.gov.uk.
Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales
We produce the following publication, Deaths related to drug poisoning, England and Wales, which provides up to 2021. This contains breakdowns by age group and substance type. Data for 2022 is due to be published this year.
Alternatively, these figures are available on our NOMIS webservice using the following instructions:
Select the geography (England and Wales, regional or by local authority)
Select Age – All ages or 5-year age bands.
- Select Gender – Total or Male/Female
- Select rates – All deaths, rates or percentage of population, for example
- Select cause of death (ICD10 code search is available)
- Select format (Excel or CSV for example)
Accidental poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances are coded between X40-X44.
Intentional self-poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances are coded between X60-X64.
Death figures divided between accidental and self-intentional (up to 2021) can be requested via our bespoke services route. Such services are subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, in line with our charging policy. Please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk for further information.
We are unable to provide drug poisoning deaths data for 2023 at this time. In England and Wales, most drug-related deaths are certified by a coroner following an inquest and cannot be registered until the inquest is completed. This can take months or even years and we are not notified of the death until it is registered. The length of time it takes to have an inquest creates a gap between the date of death and the date of death registration, referred to as a registration delay. Therefore, if we were to extract this data now, it would be a large undercount and not complete enough for us to publish.
For all-cause deaths registered in 2019 in England and Wales, 5.4% occurred prior to 2019. The percentage is much higher when looking at deaths relating to drug poisonings and drug misuse, with 54.5% and 54.4% of deaths occurring prior to 2019, respectively. Due to the length of time it takes to hold an inquest, around half of drug-related deaths registered in 2019 have occurred in earlier years, and many deaths that occurred in 2019 will not yet be included in the figures.
Please see our Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales QMI for further information on our methodology and information on registration delays.
If you would like to discuss any of the information in our publications, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.