Prescription overdose deaths continue to climb

Organisations are again calling for real-time prescription monitoring across the nation to combat the alarming figures. The Penington Institute has released Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2016 and its findings reveal a significant rise in overdose deaths over the past decade.

A snapshot of the results shows that:

• Prescription opioids are the primary drug for people who overdose;
  
  
• Between 2008 and 2014, there was an 87% increase in prescription opioid deaths, with the greatest increase in rural Australia (148% increase);
  
  
• Drug overdose deaths in people aged 40-49 have almost doubled between 2004 and 2014;
  
  
• In 2014, people aged 30-59 accounted for 78% of all overdose deaths;
  
  
• In 2014, numbers of overdose deaths were significantly higher in rural and regional areas than in metropolitan areas; and
  
  
• Men accidentally overdose at nearly twice the rate of women.

“These figures challenge the conventional wisdom that it is young urban people who are most at risk of dying of overdose in Australia,” says the institute’s CEO John Ryan.

“The report also indicates that more people die of an overdose of prescription medications such as oxycodone and benzodiazepines like Valium, than from illicit drugs.”

Source: ajp.com.au/news/prescription-overdose-deaths-continue-climb/, Viewed 2 September 2016