Deaths from Legal Highs rise to a high according to the ONS

Popular festival/recreational legal highs are causing more deaths than ever before according to statistics by the Office National Statics.  News report below.  The numbers are still relatively low considering the number of users, but the government continues to push people into taking untried and untested products and it can only be a matter of time before one new products proves to be more lethal to a larger number of people..... we only can pray not

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said deaths linked with the psychoactive substances jumped from 29 in 2011 to 52 last year, an 80 per cent rise.

Even as recently as 2007 the annual number of deaths from the new synthetic drugs was in single figures.

The ONS drug poisoning data also showed deaths from the painkiller tramadol have more than doubled since 2008 to 175 in last year.

Many of the so-called legal highs - which give the user euphoric sensations similar to the drug ecstasy - have been made illegal by the Home Office butthe law struggles to keep pace with a proliferation of different types.

Synthetic drugs sold under the names Black Mamba and Mexxy were made Class B drugs last year and Theresa May, the Home Secretary, authorised temporary bans on two other groups - Benzofury and NBOMe - in June.

Mephedrone, or miaow miaow, was made illegal in 2010.

The ONS figures covering England and Wales also showed a significant rise in the number of people killed after inhaling helium.

There were 58 deaths involving the gas last year, up from 12 in 2008, and many were linked with suicides, according to the ONS report.

In all, 891 women died from drug poisoning - including legal and illegal drugs - which was a rise of 880 the previous year.

In the same period the number of male deaths fell 4 per cent to 1,706.

The number of deaths involving heroin or morphine fell slightly in 2012 to 579 deaths, but these remained the substances most commonly involved in drug poisoning deaths, the ONS said.

The 30 to 39 age group saw the most deaths from drug misuse, and the North West had highest mortality rate by area.

Full stats and the reports are on the link below

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/subnational-health3/deaths-related-to-drug-poisoning/2012/index.html
Read more info about Recreational drugs...

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Deaths from Legal Highs rise to a high according to the ONS

Reviewed by just4u
Published : 2013-08-28T12:37:00-07:00
Rating : 4.5