Drug-related deaths are at their highest levels in England and Wales since records began 30 years ago.
Scotland has had the highest number of drug deaths in Europe for at least seven years. And the UK has even seen opioid-related deaths surpass the number of people dying in road traffic accidents.
So today on Inside Health we’re asking, what's the real story behind these numbers? Who is dying of a drug overdose and why - and how can we tackle this issue?
James Gallagher is joined by an expert panel, including:
- Professor Catriona Matheson, Professor in Substance Use at the University of Stirling and former chair of Scotland’s drug deaths taskforce - Dr Caroline Copeland, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology and Toxicology at King’s College London and Director of the National Programme on Substance Use Mortality - Dr Michael Blackmore, a GP in Grangemouth, central Scotland, who has a special interest in addictions and is himself a former drug addict, now 16 years in recovery
We also visit Professor Sir John Strang at the National Institute for Health and Care Research King’s Clinical Research Facility to see how he is experimenting with new ways of tackling rising deaths.
Professor Strang is based at the National Addictions Centre, King's College London, and monitors heroin users in the lab to see if this could in future bring about a wearable overdose detection device to save lives.
Presenter: James Gallagher Producer Gerry Holt Researcher: Minnie Harrop Editor: Ilan Goodman Production coordinator: Ishmael Soriano
If you’ve been affected by addiction, details of help and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
This episode was produced in partnership with The Open University.