Cocaine deaths reach highest level since records began

[OneFootInTheGrave]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/health/2639453/Cocaine-deaths-reach-highest-level-since-records-began.html

Figures show 196 people in England and Wales died after taking the Class A drug in 2007, up from 23 when the statistics were first compiled in 1993.
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In total 2,640 people died from drug poisoning last year, an increase of 3 per cent on the previous year's figure of 2,570.

The deaths include those of drug addicts, accidental overdoses, suicide and homicides involving both legal and illegal substances.

and to put things into perspective

Road accident deaths at 50-year low

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2366981.0.Road_accident_deaths_at_50year_low.php

Nationwide statistics show that the total number of people killed on British roads fell to its lowest level since records began in 1926. Some 30,720 people were killed or seriously injured in 2007, a 4% decrease from the previous yea

Given that there are probably more people who do drugs in UK than drive in 2007 - we should ban the cars and unban the drugs

save lives, force everyone to use public transport and give them drugs to survive it (while using public transport to avoid nervous breakdown and other consequences)

Safe Britannia

[BeBMan]

I looked twice to make sure it's not DanS with another edition of LTGTR.

*hides*

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by BeBro
I looked twice to make sure it's not DanS with another edition of LTGTR.

*hides*

[DanS] This should be good for funeral home stocks [/DanS]

[Dr Strangelove]

Wait, it's mot 30,000 people killed in MVAs in the UK last year, it's 30,000 people killed or injured. If it was 30,000 people killed then your per capita vehicular death rate would be a whopping 6 times ours in the US, since we have about that many deaths via MVAs per year but we have 6 times the population. If that were the case I would be inclined to agree with banning Britons from driving.

You don't give figures for the number of people injured by drug use, so your comparison isn't fair.

Here's an anedote from my career that pertains to this subject. When I was a second year Resident a 19 year old male arrived in our Emergency Room in cardiac arrest. He had been doing cocaine, felt ill, went into his bathroom, then when his roommate went to look after him he found him unconcious and unresponsive. We managed to restore his circulation, but he didn't come out of the coma. He remained under my care for about a month, by the end of which he showed a little response to voice - his eyes would turn in the direction of the voice. We sent him out to a long term facility. A year later a got a call from one of the staff at the facility, who informed me that the young man was begining to make tentative efforts at walking and was able to understand some speach, but still couldn't talk.

Cocaine is a cardiac stimulant. Tests using small doses comparable to those used recreationally show that about 20% of the population develop ventricular arrythmias. The cardiac toxicity of this drug isn't subject to the development of tolerance. In some subjects it shows induction - with repeated use it takes a smaller dose to produce toxicity.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

you are right ... it looked high to me, but this includes seriously injured who are majority in the number...

here is the full breakdown

* The number of people killed in road accidents fell by 7 per cent from 3,172 in 2006 to 2,946 in 2007. 30,720 people were killed or seriously injured in 2007, 4 per cent fewer than in 2006. There were 247,780 road casualties in Great Britain in 2007, 4 per cent less than in 2006.
* There were 182,115 road accidents involving personal injury in 2007, 4 per cent fewer than in 2006. Of these, 27,036 accidents involved death or serious injury, 3 per cent fewer than in 2006 (27,872).
* The number of deaths among car users in 2007 was 1,432, 11 per cent less than in the previous year. The number seriously injured fell by 9 per cent to 11,535. Total casualties among car users were 161,433, 6 per cent lower than 2006. Provisional traffic estimates indicate a 1 per cent fall in car and taxi traffic over the period.
* Child casualties fell by 7 per cent. The number of children killed or seriously injured in 2007 was 3,090 (down 6 per cent on 2006). Of those, 1,899 were pedestrians, 6 per cent down on 2006. 121 children died on the roads, 28 per cent fewer than in 2006, this is the lowest ever recorded figure.
* There were 646 pedestrian deaths, 4 per cent less than in 2006. Killed or serious injured casualties fell by 2 per cent to 6,924. The all pedestrian casualty figure fell to 30,191 in 2007, 3 per cent lower than 2006.
* The number of pedal cyclists killed fell by 7 per cent from 146 in 2006 to 136 in 2007. The number of seriously injured rose by 6 per cent to 2,428. The total casualties among pedal cyclists remained at the same level as 2006.
* There were 588 motorcycle user fatalities in 2007, 2 per cent lower than during 2006. The number of killed or seriously rose compared to 2006 (up 4 per cent from 6,484 in 2006 to 6,737 in 2007). The all motorcycle user casualties figure for 2007 of 23,459 is 1 per cent higher than in 2006.

in that sense it is only about 3k people who actually died... which is almost the same as the drugs related deaths... which makes more sense, as drug (ab)use recreational or otherwise is really high in UK...

personally I am for legalization and taxation as what you have now is the same as alcohol prohibition in 1930's US... everyone is doing it anyhow but the government is not getting it's cut like it's getting out of alcohol and tobacco (tax the drugs and make beer cheaper ) + added crime + the health care is neither preventive nor is there any education so the effects are even worse than they need be...

but it's a different discussion - wrong stats - cars do seem quite safe, around 10% death rate out of the serious road accidents... looks like those safety standards are working

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave
this includes seriously injured who are majority in the number...

Well let's hope. The NHS can't be that bad!

[Heraclitus]

Are you sure?


But seriously the spread of cocaine use is a cause for concern. Its gone from an expensive high class drug to a mass used cheap way to feel good.