asked the Minister for health the number of deaths from drugs in each year from 1975; and the name of the drugs which have been responsible for the deaths, if available.
Written Answers. - Drug Deaths.
184.
The reply to the Deputy's question has been prepared in tabular form and I propose to circulate it with the Official Report.
Deaths certified as due to drugs 1975 to 1982.
|
Cause of Death |
Number of Deaths |
|||||||
|
1975 |
'76 |
'77 |
'78 |
'79 |
'80 |
'81 |
'82 |
|
|
Poisoning by: |
||||||||
|
—Primarily Systemic Agents |
— |
— |
1 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
—Analgesics, Antipyretics and Antirheumatics |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
10 |
3 |
|
—Barbiturates |
7 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
19 |
17 |
12 |
12 |
|
—Other Sedatives and Hypnotics |
— |
— |
2 |
— |
1 |
2 |
— |
4 |
|
—Tranquillizers and Other Psychotropic Agents |
2 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
15 |
28 |
11 |
22 |
|
—Other Drugs and Medicaments |
1 |
— |
1 |
— |
2 |
10 |
7 |
11 |
|
—Unspecified Drugs and Medicaments |
— |
— |
1 |
1 |
8 |
19 |
8 |
5 |
|
Drug Dependence |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
1 |
— |
2 |
|
Non-Dependent Abuse of Drugs |
— |
— |
— |
— |
1 |
— |
— |
1 |
|
Total |
11 |
11 |
9 |
5 |
53 |
82 |
48 |
60 |
Source: Central Statistics Office.
Notes (1) The classification used is that of the international Classification of Diseases (9th Revision). It is not possible from the available data to obtain the names of the individual drugs involved.
(2) Complete data for the period 1975-78 are not available. The data quoted for this period include only deaths due to accidental poisoning by these substances. They are not comparable therefore with the data for later years which also include deaths due to self-inflicted poisoning or where doubt exists as to whether the poisoning was accidental or self-inflicted.
(3) The data indicate the number of deaths certified as being caused by drugs. It is not known how accurately they reflect the true numbers of deaths due to drugs.