By James Slack, Home Affairs Editor Twice as many Britons die from a drugs overdose, compared with the rest of Europe, a new report has found The UK death rate from so-called ‘legal highs’ is twice the European average, it emerged today. Experts also warned that the rate at which new drugs are flooding the market continues to rise. A total of 81 new psychoactive substances were reported for the first time in 2013, up from 73 the previous year, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said. Europe’s Early Warning System, a detection mechanism described as the ‘first line of defence against emerging drugs’, is struggling to cope with the rate at which new synthetic drugs are emerging.
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European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction released its annual report revealing 81 new 'legal highs' first appeared last year
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Report states UK mortality rate due to overdose is 38.3 per million of the population - more than twice the average for Europe at 17 per million
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Estonia has the highest rate at 191 per million people
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Agency warns open sale of drugs online is making them more available
Elsewhere in the report, the @placeholder said heroin use and availability was in decline, with the number of first-time entrants to specialist drug treatment for heroin problems falling from a peak of 59,000 in 2007 to 31,000 in 2012.