Drug deaths in England and Wales highest since records began

Drug-related deaths in England and Wales have reached an all-time high – with many of the deaths caused by opiates including heroin.

Charities are calling it a public health emergency. They say addiction problems have been made even worse by the Covid crisis while cuts in funding means support is often not there for those who need it.

Although because of delays in registering deaths – most will have actually happened before the pandemic began.