Powys recorded a dozen drug-related deaths last year, figures show.

Office for National Statistics figures show there were 12 drug-related deaths recorded in Powys in 2020 – down from 13 the year before.

The deaths relate to poisoning from a variety of illegal and legal drugs, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, as well as accidents, suicides, and health complications arising from drug use.

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

Across England and Wales, 4,561 deaths from drug poisoning were recorded in 2020 – two-thirds of these from misuse.

While this represents the highest total for the two nations since records began in 1993, the number of drug-related deaths in Wales alone fell to their lowest level since 2014.

The ONS said around half of the deaths will have occurred in the previous year due to delays with death registrations, with the majority before the pandemic.

Eytan Alexander, a recovering addict and chief executive of the UK Addiction Treatment Group, said the number of deaths across England and Wales is “saddening but unsurprising”.

He said: “We’re living in a parallel pandemic; a drug, alcohol and mental health pandemic that has only worsened due to the virus.

“Enough is enough now, we need to come together as a society and take real action to help vulnerable people before more people lose their lives.”

The ONS figures show that the age standardised mortality rate – which accounts for age and population size – was 9.0 per 100,000 people across Wales between 2018-20, down from 9.4 between 2017-19.

In Powys, this rate for the most recent three-year period was broadly similar, at 8.9 per 100,000.

The rates of drug related deaths in the most deprived areas of Wales were around six times higher than those in the least deprived parts.