§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the annual number who (a) die and (b) are seriously and permanently damaged as a result of drugs; and if he will detail the sources of his estimate.
§ Mr. Geoffrey Finsberg1980 data from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys show a total of 2,524 deaths where the underlying cause was use or misuse of drugs. This represents 0.4 per cent. of all deaths. Provisional figures for 1981 are 2,370 and 0.4 per cent. These figures include deaths following accidental poisoning, drug dependence and other forms of abuse or misuse of medicinal products. Drugs may have been mentioned in the certification of other deaths which have been classified to the condition being treated or to the condition actually causing death but these are not routinely tabulated.
The statistics are not available on which an estimate of the numbers of people seriously and permanently injured by adverse effects of medicinal products could be based.