Almost one in three drug overdose deaths in Europe are reported in the UK, according to an official report published yesterday.
The number of deaths from drug overdoses registered in Europe rose for the third consecutive year — by 6 per cent to 8,441 — mainly linked to heroin and other opioids, the report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said.
It said that 31 per cent of those deaths were in the UK, with Germany in second place on 15 per cent. The report said that the figures could be explained by under-reporting in some states and that the size of Britain’s and Germany’s at-risk population was a factor.
Recent figures show a rise in the number of heroin-related deaths in the UK with heroin or morphine mentioned in 1,200 deaths registered in 2015, a 26 per cent increase on the previous year and a 57 per cent rise on 2013.
Deaths involving cocaine increased from 169 to 320 between 2013 and 2015, although the report said that many of these were thought to be heroin overdoses in people who also used crack.
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Dimitris Avramopoulos, Europe’s home affairs commissioner, said: “Over 93 million Europeans have tried an illicit drug in their lives and overdose deaths continue to rise.”
He added that young people were exposed to many new and dangerous drugs. “Already 25 highly potent synthetic opioids were detected in Europe between 2009 and 2016, of which only small volumes are needed to produce many thousands of doses, those pose a growing health threat,” he said.