A research report has highlighted that young adults aged 25–34 account for the highest number of drug related deaths in Northern Ireland (NI), rising significantly in the past ten years from 13.4 per 100,000 (2011) to 27 per 100,000 (2021). The report will inform the work undertaken by the Drug Deaths Taskforce in Northern Ireland, which has the second highest rate of drug related deaths in the UK after Scotland.  

The research was carried out by the recently implemented Drug Deaths Taskforce Northern Ireland, as a collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast, the Northern Ireland Alcohol and Drugs Alliance, South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, Ulster University and the University of St Andrews.  

School of SSESW academic Anne Campbell (Director of our Drugs and Alcohol Network) led the research. She said: “The prevention of each of these deaths is possible, making it essential for the Department of Health, the NI Executive, and society to prioritise this issue. This work will provide the evidence base for the nature and type of drug related deaths in Northern Ireland, the numbers admitted to hospital for overdose, the number of deaths that could have been avoided, and the number of young people and young adults who are being admitted with overdoses.” 

Report recommendations:  

• To address the escalating crisis and challenges in NI, it is proposed that immediate resources, including more staff, be allocated to drug outreach service provisions, targeting young people and young adults in the short term.  
• Real time drug testing technology needs to be employed to detect drug use trends and link them to a more efficient alert system for individuals, communities and service providers.  
• In the past five years, there has been an increase in synthetic opioids in the UK. It is important for the Department of Health and Public Health Agency in NI to monitor the emergence of these synthetic opioids, given the impact of heroin import restrictions in England and Wales. The Drug and Alcohol Monitoring and Information System is a valuable source of information, but it could be enhanced by conducting immediate drug testing on samples submitted for disposal by community and voluntary sector organisations. 
• Research should look specifically at the coding of non-fatal overdoses presented at emergency departments to standardise recordings, identify trends, improve treatment, and help target future service provision. 

This report is the first to look at data from a range of sources across NI, including: the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths, and emergency admissions data from all Health and Social Care Trusts.