Legal drugs cause 75% of poisoning deaths

Legal drugs, including prescription medication and alcohol, account for three out of four of all deaths directly due to the effects of drugs.

Tranquillisers known as benzodiazepines, methadone and anti-depressant medication, along with alcohol, accounted for 262 of the 350 deaths from poisoning in 2012.

Illegal drugs were implicated in the remaining 87 deaths, or just a quarter of the overall total, according to official figures.