CALLS have been made to introduce new measures to help reduce drug and alcohol related deaths following publication of alarming statistics earlier this month.
Figures from the Health Research Board report show there were over 630 drug related fatalities in 2012, and a total of 5,289 people have died directly from substance abuse since records began in 2004.
The report found that more than half of the drug related deaths involved a mixture of drugs (poly-drug) – a 60 per cent increase since 2004. Alcohol was involved in one in every three of 350 poisoning deaths and Methadone in one in every four.
Non-poisoning fatalities, which include deaths from trauma like hanging, or medical causes, such as liver disease, increased from 258 in 2011 and 283 in 2012.
The most common medical cause of non-poisoning death was cardiac events (31 per cent) and liver disease (16 per cent).
Source: Dublin People, 29/12/2014
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