Drug deaths 78 fatalities in city last year as UK numbers hit high

SCORES of people died in Bristol and the surrounding area after taking drugs last year, as national figures show record numbers of drug poisonings.

- Estel FARELL ROIG

New Government figures show that 5,565 deaths registered in England and Wales in 2024 were related to drug poisoning. That was a 2% increase on 2023, and the highest drug death toll since records began in 1993.

That includes 87 deaths registered in either Bristol, North Somerset, or South Gloucestershire, the second-highest number on record, behind 2023 (93 deaths).

Nationally, just under half of drug-poisoning deaths registered last year involved an opiate or an opioid (47%, or 2,621 deaths). Heroine and morphine, often indistinguishable in toxicology testing, were the most frequently mentioned opiates and opioids in death registrations (1,415 deaths).

But there were also 195 deaths which involved nitazenes, a category of new synthetic opioids. That was a near fourfold increase from the 52 deaths registered in 2023. These substances can be 100 times more potent than heroin and bring a high risk of overdose.