London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

‘Parallel pandemic’: England has experienced record-high drug deaths during COVID-19, charities warn

‘Parallel pandemic’: England has experienced record-high drug deaths during COVID-19, charities warn

England and Wales suffered a record high number of drug deaths in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, following in the footsteps of Scotland and the United States, which experienced a similar rise.
There were 4,561 deaths from drug poisoning last year – up 3.8% from 2019 and the highest number since records started in 1993, according to The Guardian – and the majority of the victims were middle-aged men.

Half of the deaths were the result of opiate use, while cocaine deaths went up by nearly 10% from 2019, resulting in 777 fatalities.

Drug-related deaths took an upwards turn during the early 2010s and have continued to rise during the pandemic, with cocaine abuse victims becoming more and more prevalent in statistics.

UK Addiction Treatment Centres founder Eytan Alexander told The Guardian that cocaine had become “as easy to order as a Deliveroo” – the food delivery service – and warned that the UK is “living in a parallel pandemic: a drug, alcohol, and mental health pandemic that has only worsened due to the virus.”

“Enough is enough,” Alexander declared, arguing that society has to “come together” to “take real action” against drug abuse.
Clare Taylor, the national director for the charity Turning Point, also warned The Guardian about the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on those who are vulnerable to substance abuse.

Covid-19 has impacted on the nation’s mental health, but the effect of isolation, financial insecurity, and fear has hit many of those who were already vulnerable including people with a history of drug or alcohol problems,” she said, concluding that every death is preventable.

The statistics in England and Wales follow similar reports from Scotland and the US, which also recorded a rise in drug deaths during the coronavirus pandemic. Scotland experienced a record high of 1,339 drug deaths in 2020, an increase of 75 deaths from the previous year, and it was the seventh year in a row that a rise in deaths was recorded.

The majority of those who died were between the ages of 35 and 54. According to the National Records of Scotland, the country has more drug deaths per capita than any other European nation, by an overwhelming majority.

The US also experienced a record number of drug deaths, with 93,331 fatalities in 2020 – a huge increase of nearly 30% from the 72,151 deaths recorded in 2019.

Experts blamed the rise on several coronavirus-related factors, including reduced facilities and programs for addicts, social isolation, and the large amount of fentanyl that is currently available in the US.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health expert Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein told Reuters that “street-level outreach was very difficult” during the pandemic and that “people were very isolated” with lockdowns, social distancing and the reduction in programs for those suffering from drug abuse.

Mental health problems have also been on the rise around the world during the pandemic, with child suicide attempts increasing by up to 200% in Canada as a result of the isolation from lockdowns.

In an Australian survey from June, one in 10 Australians living in the state of Victoria said they had “seriously considered suicide” during the pandemic and lockdowns, while a further 12.3% admitted to starting or increasing substance abuse to cope.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×