Blackpool worst for heroin and morphine-related deaths

Blackpool has been named as the worst place in the country from heroin and morphine-related deaths.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show there were 14 heroin and/or morphine misuse deaths per 100,000 people in 2016, compared to the national averages of 1.7 in England and 2.3 in Wales.

The figure is almost twice as high as the area with the next rate - another Lancashire hotspot: Burnley.

More than six of the heroin and morphine death hotspots are seaside locations, including Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Hastings, Thanet and Swansea.

The fortunes of towns such as Blackpool, Portsmouth and Hastings have been in decline since traditional coastal holidays fell out of favour in the 1960s, with the advent of package holidays abroad, the ONS said.

Its article also pointed out that some of the 10 areas have high levels of deprivation, which could link to increased drug use.

A report from Public Health England published last year said: Social factors, including housing, employment and deprivation, are associated with substance misuse and these social factors moderate drug treatment outcomes.''

In 2016, analysis by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs concluded that a probable cause of recent increases in drug-related deaths is the existence of a prematurely ageing cohort of people who have been using heroin since the 1980s and 1990s.

Experts also identified a deepening of socio-economic deprivation since the financial crisis of 2008'' as a possible factor.

There were 3,744 drug poisoning deaths, involving both legal and illegal drugs, registered in 2016 in England and Wales.

This was up by 70, or 2%, on 2015, and the highest number since comparable data started in 1993.

The ONS report referred to the Trainspotting Generation'', which became addicted to heroin in the 1980s and 1990s, as a possible explanation for why the highest rate of death from drugs misuse was among 40 to 49-year-olds in 2016