The media are making much of a slight upturn in the last two quarters after six quarters suggesting a fall in suspected drug deaths.

The variation from one quarter to another is not a trend but that over twelve, three years, may be.

After climbing to the beginning of 2021, with variations from one quarter to another and with plateaus, suspected drug deaths clearly fell until Q3 in 2022.

The last two quarters suggesting another plateau, even a slight increase, might, might, indicate the beginning of a worrying upward trend but equally, like the plateau in 2019, be followed by further falls. We’ll know in a year or so.