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Drug-Related Deaths In Scotland In 2008

The Registrar General for Scotland today published a short paper analysing the number of drug-related deaths in Scotland.

The key points are:

• There were 574 drug-related deaths in 2008, 119 (26 per cent) more than in 2007 and 325 (131 per cent) more than in 1998.
• The number of drug-related deaths rose in eight of the past ten years: the long-term trend seems steadily upwards.
• 80 per cent of the deaths were of men.
• 37 per cent of drug-related deaths were of 25-34 year olds; a further 30 per cent were of 35-44 year olds.
• The Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board area accounted for 34 per cent of the deaths, Lothian for 16 per cent, and Tayside for 9 per cent.
• Using the annual average for 2004-2008 (in order to reduce the effect on the figures of any year-to-year fluctuations), the average of 428 drug-related deaths per year represented about 0.08 per 1,000 population for Scotland as a whole. Only one Health Board area had a higher rate: Greater Glasgow & Clyde (0.13 per 1,000 population).

Comparing the annual average for 2004-2008 with that for 1996-2000:

• male deaths increased faster than female deaths;
• numbers rose faster for 35-44 year olds, and for people aged 45 and over, than they did for 25-34 year olds; there was a fall in deaths of people aged under 25; and
• the Health Board areas with the largest increases in the numbers of drug-related deaths were Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Lanarkshire, Forth Valley and Ayrshire & Arran.

Of the 574 drug-related deaths in 2008:

• heroin and/or morphine were reported as present in the body in 336 cases (59 per cent);
• methadone was present in 181 cases (32 per cent);
• benzodiazepines (such as diazepam) were present in 364 cases (63 per cent);
• cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines were present in the body in 79, 7 and 12 cases respectively; and
• the presence of alcohol was mentioned in 273 cases.

The figures for the different drugs which were reported as being found in the body are on a different basis from earlier years, due to a change in the method used to collect the information. However, the main trends can be seen by comparing the annual average for 2003-2007 with that for 1996-2000. This shows:

• marked rises in deaths for which heroin and/or morphine, cocaine and alcohol were reported;
• not much change in the numbers of deaths for which methadone, diazepam and ecstasy were reported; and
• a marked fall in deaths for which temazepam was reported.