Overdose efforts suggested
Print
New stats suggest Australia is facing an overdose crisis.
The Penington Institute’s 2024 Annual Overdose Report reveals that approximately six Australians die each day from overdoses.
The data shows a near doubling of overdose deaths over the past two decades, with 2,356 drug-induced fatalities recorded in 2022 alone.
“Drug overdose is not someone else's problem. It affects all walks of society—young and old, rich and poor, metro and regional. It is an Australian problem that we must collectively face up to,” Penington Institute CEO John Ryan said.
This increase in overdose deaths is particularly concerning when compared to other public safety issues, such as road accidents.
Since 2002, the national road toll has decreased by 27 per cent, yet overdose deaths have more than doubled during the same period.
Overdose deaths now consistently outnumber road fatalities each year.
The report also sheds light on evolving trends in drug use, with opioids remaining the leading cause of unintentional overdose deaths, accounting for nearly half of all such cases in 2022.
The number of deaths involving heroin has surged by over 400 per cent since 2002, with a 40 per cent increase in just the past year.
Moreover, the emergence of synthetic opioids like nitazenes, which are reportedly hundreds of times stronger than heroin, has raised new alarms.
These new drugs “are increasingly entering suburbia and country towns”, the institute says.
In light of these findings, the Penington Institute is calling on the Australian Government to establish a National Overdose Prevention Strategy.
The Institute has outlined five key policy recommendations to mitigate the crisis:
-
Education: Nationwide education initiatives to increase awareness about the risks of overdose and how to respond.
-
Naloxone accessibility: Widespread availability of naloxone, an overdose reversal medication, across various settings including public spaces and first-aid kits.
-
Medication-assisted treatment: Removal of barriers to pharmacotherapy, a cost-effective treatment for opioid dependence.
-
Drug checking services: Expansion of drug checking services beyond festivals to community settings, where dangerous substances are increasingly found.
-
Supervised consumption sites: Reconfiguring existing needle and syringe programs into mini overdose prevention sites.
“There are practical and affordable initiatives that can save lives. There is no excuse not to act,” Ryan said.
The report also highlights a troubling disparity in overdose deaths between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, with Indigenous Australians nearly four times more likely to die from unintentional overdose.
The Penington Institute says that the solutions are within reach, but require coordinated action and commitment from the government and the broader community.