Numbers of drug-related deaths in England and Wales have risen to a record high, driven mainly by opium, according to statistics.

And the British news agency PA Media quoted the Office for National Statistics that 4,859 deaths related to drug poisoning were recorded in 2021 – a rate of 84.4 deaths per million people.

The annual tally rose for the ninth consecutive year, an increase of 6.2 percent over 2020, and it was the highest since registration began more than a quarter of a century ago in 1993.

The overall upward trend over the past decade has been driven primarily by opioid-related deaths, the Office for National Statistics said, and even those related to other drugs such as cocaine.