Drug-related deaths have reached record highs in England and Wales, according to official figures released today.
Fatalities caused by MDMA - also known as ecstasy, cocaine and sleeping pills have rocketed ten-fold in a decade and surged to levels not seen since 1993.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed 4,561 deaths in England and Wales registered last year were related to drug poisoning, marking the ninth successive year that such fatalities have risen.
MDMA caused ten times more deaths than in 2010, while among men, fatalities linked to the drug were 13 times higher than 10 years ago.
Cocaine deaths surged by nearly five times over the same period, with rates among women also soaring by more than eight times.
Benzodiazepine, which is present in sleep aids such as Xanax and Valium, meanwhile, saw related deaths rise by almost 60 per cent in a decade.
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In response, experts said while harrowing the figures are not a surprise, particularly deaths involving cocaine which is now "as easy to order as Deliveroo".
The class A drug - mentioned on 777 death certificates last year - is now the second most common cause of death from drugs, behind heroin and morphine.
Ministers have been urged to stop the "public health emergency" in its tracks.
Many of the fatalities were born in the 1970s and so are part of the so-called 'Trainspotting generation', named after the 1996 film about heroin addicts in Edinburgh.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said today the Government "is committed to tackling drug misuse and saving lives".
In light of the report, ministers are now pushing for naloxone — a medication that can reverse the effects of opioid overdose — to become more widely available.
It comes days after Scotland recorded a record high 1,339 drug-related deaths last year, the worst in Europe.
Ian Hamilton, a senior lecturer in addiction and mental health at the University of York, told MailOnline the figures are "absolutely damning" and said he is most worried about the surge in cocaine deaths.
He said: "This is due to the rising potency of cocaine which is also more affordable than its ever been.
"There is no quality control provided to users of the drug the only way they know how strong it is unfortunately is when they overdose on it."
He said the Government must invest more in specialist treatment, rather than "cheap political posturing" in which they only target recreational users.
Eytan Alexander, a recovering drug addict and CEO of UK Addiction Treatment Centres, told the Guardian cocaine is as easy to order as food on takeaway apps.
He added: "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 … we need to come together as a society and take real action."
However, it's important to note most of the deaths referred to in the report took place in 2019 due to registration delays.
MDMA was only behind eight deaths in 2010, compared to 82 last year and most pronounced in men - with a jump from five to 70, the figures show.
Women, meanwhile, saw the sharpest rise in deaths from cocaine with 19 now at 158.
There were 476 deaths linked to benzodiazepine.
However, heroin and morphine were the most common cause of drug related death in 2020, mentioned on 1,337 death certificates - an increase of 69 per cent on ten years ago.
The North East experienced the highest rates at 105 drug-related deaths per million people, while London saw 33 per million.
The highest rate of drug misuse deaths was found in those aged 45 to 49, while rates remained the same for teenagers and the elderly.
The ONS said Generation X drug users are likely suffering the effects of long-term drug use and so are at increasing risk of suffering a fatal overdose.