THE LATEST FIGURES on drug-related deaths, released today, show that almost two people die each day as a result of poisoning, trauma or medical causes linked to drug use.
The latest figures from the Health Research Board (HRB) cover 2014.
A total of 697 people died that year, compared to 431 in 2004 – representing an increase of 62%.
According to the HRB:
Prescription drugs were implicated in 259, or three in every four, poisonings during 2014.
235 people died in 2014 because they took a mixture of drugs, with an average of four drugs involved. Benzodiazepines were the most common drug group involved in polydrug deaths.
Alcohol is still implicated in one in three deaths and remains the single most common drug implicated in deaths between 2004 and 2014.
Hanging was the main cause of non-poisoning deaths. There was a 21% increase in deaths due to hanging between 2013 and 2014.
Source: Daragh Brophy, The Journal.ie , 13/12/16
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