DRUG DEATH TOLL DOUBLES

DEATHS from drug abuse have doubled in five years, with hard drugs such as
heroin and cocaine largely to blame for the rise.

Drug abuse now accounts for a fifth of all deaths among men in their twenties.

But deaths from Ecstasy, which have received widespread publicity in recent
years, have fallen from 27 in 1994 to 11 in 1997 and are far less than
those from other Class A drugs. The Office for National Statistics figures
come from a new database of information from death certificates in England
and Wales.

It paints the first accurate picture of deaths from different drugs and
could help the Government in making decisions about what to focus on in its
National Drugs Strategy.

In 1997, 491 men died as a result of drug dependence or abuse, compared to
245 in 1993. In women, deaths from drug abuse almost doubled in the same
period, from 45 to 84.

Heroin was involved in 255 drugs-related deaths in 1997, compared to 67 in
1993.

Cocaine deaths trebled from 12 in 1993 to 38 in 1997.

"The increase in recordings of cocaine may be due to increased use or
increased recording," said a spokesman for the ONS. "Or it could be a
combination of both."

Cocaine has become increasingly popular in recent years as the price of the
drug has fallen, overtaking rave drugs such as Ecstasy among young users.

Deaths from Ecstasy trebled between 1993 and 1994 from eight to 27, but by
1997 had fallen back to 11.

The average age of people whose death was caused by heroin or cocaine was 30.

A second report by the ONS shows cot deaths are more common at weekends and
holidays. "It could be attributed to a number of factors, including
changing parental routines, changes in the environment or a reluctance to
seek help for what could be a trivial illness," said report author Nirupa
Dattani.

Cot deaths however fell by a third between 1993 and 1998 while the overall
infant mortality rate decreased by a tenth.

The reduction in cot deaths was mainly due to better guidance about how
babies should sleep to avoid the risk. Small babies, twins and triplets,
and children born outside marriage are at increased risk of cot death.

More than 60 per cent of cot deaths occur in babies where the parents are
not married.

The North West has consistently had the highest cot death rate while South
Thames boasts the lowest.Joyce Epstein of the Foundation for the Study of
Infant Deaths, said: "Cot death claims seven lives every week in the UK and
it remains the main kind of death in babies over one month old."