The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 14 March 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many deaths from drug related poisoning occurred in England where (a) benzodiazepines were total mentions and (b) benzodiazepines were mentioned with other drugs in each year from 1999 to 2006. (194101)
The table below shows the number of deaths for which the underlying cause was drug-related poisoning, and where benzodiazepines were mentioned on the death record, alone or with other substances. Figures are provided for usual residents of England for the years 1999 to 2006.
Total mentions4 Mentions without other drugs 1999 245 46 2000 189 33 2001 222 32 2002 228 34 2003 198 29 2004 218 40 2005 176 30 2006 159 30 1 Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (JCD-9) codes 292, 303, 305,2-305.9, E850-E858, E950.0-E950.5, E980.0-E980.5 andE962.0 for the years 1999 and 2000 and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes FI1-F16, F18-F19, X40-X44, X60-X64, X85 and YIO-Y14 from 2001 onwards. These deaths were selected where benzodiazepines were mentioned on the death record. 2 Deaths of usual residents of England. 3 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year. 4 Includes benzodiazepines mentioned with other drugs.