Drug-related deaths in England 2012, by implicated drug Statistic

This statistic shows the amount of psychoactive drug-related deaths, as reported to the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (NPSAD) in England in 2012, by implicated drug. The drugs that were implicated most often in these deaths in 2012 were heroin and morphine. There were also a large number of deaths where alcohol combined with one of these drugs. Important to note is that whilst these drugs were implicated, they may have been in combination with another drug/other drugs.

Distribution of psychoactive drug-related deaths reported to NPSAD in England in 2012, by implicated drug

Characteristic	Percentage of deaths
Heroin/morphine	35.2%
Alcohol in combination	33.7%
Antidepressants	25.1%
Hypnotics/sedatives	24.1%
Methadone	22.7%
Cocaine	11.1%
Antipsychotics	5.8%
Amphetamines	4%
Ecstasy type drugs	3.7%
Antiepileptics	2.4%
Cannabis	2.3%
Mephedrone	1.3%
GHB/GBL	1.1%
AntiParkinson’s	0.2%
Other opiates/opioid analgesics	26.7%

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Release date

February 2014

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Region

United Kingdom (England)

Survey time period

2012

Supplementary notes

National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (NPSAD) drug-related deaths are those deaths reported voluntarily to the NPSAD by coroners. Responses were voluntarily submitted from a total of 78 out of 99 coroners' jurisdictions in England, giving a total coverage rate of 78.8%.
An NPSAD case is defined as a death where any of the following criteria are met at a completed inquest, fatal accident inquiry or similar investigation:
- One or more psychoactive substance directly implicated in death;
- History of dependence or abuse of psychoactive drugs;
- Presence of Controlled Drugs at post mortem; or
- Cases with deaths directly due to drugs but with no inquest.
There were 1.033 drug-related deaths in 2012 involving psychoactive drugs. The deaths detailed here sum to a higher amount. This is due to one death potentially involving more than one drug.
** 'Alcohol in combination' is a case where the death involved at least one psychoactive drug and alcohol.

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