Pharmacy Daily | Australia needs an overdose strategy

NO STONE should be left unturned in developing a national strategy to combat the rate of overdose-related deaths in Australian, the Penington Institute believes.

Commenting on the findings of the Penington Institute's Australia's Annual Overdose Report 2020, which revealed there were more than 2,000 overdose deaths for the fifth year running, CEO John Ryan, called on the Federal Government to implement three policies to tackle the issue.

"We simply can't accept that 2,000 of our sons and daughters, mums and dads, and brothers and sisters die every year from a drug overdose," Ryan said.

"Over 400 more Australians die of unintentional overdoses than on the roads every year -- and the gap is widening.

"Concerted campaigning, investment in evidence-based policies and community education has done a great job of bringing down the road toll.

"We must tackle our overdose crisis in the same way.

"That is why today, which is also International Overdose Awareness Day, Penington Institute is calling on the Commonwealth to bring down the overdose toll by committing to the following policies:

"Firstly, it must commit to a National Overdose Prevention Strategy. This strategy must leave no stone unturned. It should examine the drivers of overdose risk, access to proven interventions, and the adequacy of our existing efforts.

"Secondly, it must -- as a priority -- expand the current pilot of Take Home Naloxone from NSW, SA and WA to every state and territory. Naloxone is a safe, proven intervention that saves countless lives.

"Thirdly, the Commonwealth must be realistic about the planned roll-out of national real-time prescription monitoring."

Of the 2,070 drug induced deaths across Australia in 2020, 1,556 were classified as unintentional, of which 900 involved opioids, 684 were linked to benzodiazepines, with 442 associated with stimulants.

The report also found Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were almost three-times as likely to suffer an unintentional fatal overdose in 2018, with 17.3 deaths per 100,000, compared with six deaths per 100,000 in the non-Indigenous population.