MORE people suffered drug related deaths in Colchester last year than ever before, stark new figures have revealed.

Office for National Statistics figures show 23 drug-related deaths in Colchester in 2019.

The deaths relate to poisoning from a variety of illegal and legal drugs, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

The figures count deaths from drug abuse but also include those from accidents, suicides and health complications arising from drug use.

In Colchester, 11 deaths last year were down to misuse, meaning they involved illegal drugs or were as a result of drug abuse or dependence.

Joni Thompson, who is the clinical and business development manager at Colchester drug and alcohol recovery service Open Road, said the town’s problem reflected one nationwide.

“Sadly, this is not a problem which is exclusive to Colchester - it is happening everywhere,” she said.

“One factor is we have an ageing population and there has been an increase in the use of opiates.

“We are not seeing these increase in deaths of people who are in treatment programmes.

“It is important for people who find themselves reliant on drugs to seek support.

“We are not here to judge.

“If people are going to use then we can support them to, initially, do it safely and then work out how they can think about stopping.

“If somebody has been using drugs for 20 years then they are not going to be able to stop tomorrow but we can help people get to where they want to be.

“One person dying because of drugs is one too many but there are factors which can show you why.”

Ms Thompson added: “Across Essex, drug related deaths are comparable to other areas.

“It is a problem across the country.”