The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 5 July 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many drug-related deaths have been recorded in Suffolk in each of the last five years. (82110)
Available figures relate to the number of deaths from drug-related poisoning, not the total number that were drug-related. The most recent year for which figures are now available is 2004. The table below shows the number of deaths for which the underlying cause was drug poisoning, for the years 2000 to 2004.
Number of deaths 2000 23 2001 37 2002 24 2003 29 2004 34 1 Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 292, 304, 305.2-305.9, E850-E858, E950.0-E950.5, E962.0 and E980.0-E980.5 for the year 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes F11-F16, F18-F19, X40-X44, X60-X64, X85 and Y10-Y14from 2001 onwards. 2 Usual residents of the county of Suffolk. 3 Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year.