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Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Answer

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths that involved (a) ecstasy as the sole drug concerned and (b) alcohol poisoning, occurred after the victims consumed the substances (i) in clubs, (ii) in public houses, (iii) at raves and (iv) elsewhere, in each of the last five years. [6627] Mrs. Angela Knight: [holding answer 2 December 1996]: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the chief executive of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given. Letter from Tim Holt to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 16 December 1996: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has asked me to reply as the Director of the Office for National Statistics to your recent question on how many deaths resulted from ecstasy, or poisoning from alcohol after the victims consumed the substances in (i) clubs (ii) public houses (iii) raves and (iv) elsewhere, in each of the last five years. ONS do not hold this level of detail as to where the substance which caused the death was consumed. The information is not recorded on the death certificate nor by the coroner, and would be very difficult to record with any degree of accuracy. Alcohol, for example, may have been consumed in a number of different places. The following table shows, (a) the numbers of deaths where Ecstasy was the sole drug mentioned and (b) the numbers of deaths from alcohol poisoning, in England and Wales in the last five years. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Year Deaths from ecstasy{1} Deaths from alcohol poisoning{2} 1991 6 152 1992 5 126 1993 12 138 1994 10 123 1995 15 130 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. {1} Deaths in which Ecstasy was the only drug mentioned on the death certificate. None of these deaths included mention of alcohol. {2} International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, code 980.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

6627; 287 c434-6W

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Death Alcoholism Drugs Misuse Raves Ecstasy

Contains statistics

Yes