Pharmacy Daily | Australia faces US-style opioid crisis

AUSTRALIA must take decisive action to prevent overdose related deaths, or face a US-style opioid crisis, Penington Institute CEO, John Ryan, warns.

Launching the Institute's Australia's Annual Overdose Report 2022, which presents data from 2020, Ryan said it marked the seventh successive year that overdose deaths have exceeded road fatalities, with 2,220 drug-induced deaths recorded in 2020.

"When we first breached 2,000 overdose deaths back in 2014, the announcement was met with dismay and alarm," he said.

"In our communities, as in political and professional circles, there was an acknowledgement that we had arrived at a crisis point demanding swift action.

"The shock of realisation prompted us to reflect on how we had allowed this to happen, and now that it had happened, what we could do about it.

"In Australia, someone dies from an overdose every four hours.

"Non-fatal overdoses, which can have devastating long-term effects, are estimated to occur at around 30 times this frequency.

"Overdose is a leading cause of death for Australians of all ages. It is the second- and third-leading cause of death for those in their thirties and twenties, respectively.

"Australians aged 40 and above now account for over two-thirds of unintentional overdose deaths.

"Stimulant overdose is becoming more common.

"The total number of unintentional drug-induced deaths involving stimulants (a category that includes ice and MDMA) has increased ten-fold over the last two decades, from 53 deaths in 2001 to 526 in 2020.

"Perhaps most worrying of all, Australian overdose deaths involving fentanyl (along with two other synthetic opioids, pethidine and tramadol) have increased by 1,275% since 2006.

"Without decisive action, the slide into US-level overdose mortality seems not just possible but assured.

"A National Overdose Prevention Strategy, developed in collaboration with experts, including frontline workers and those with lived experience, represents our best chance of arresting the crisis before we draw level with the US.

"Developing this strategy should be made a national priority. With so many lives lost, so many more at risk, and the solutions within our grasp, 2022 must be the year we decide that one more overdose death is too many."