Meds abuse sparks alarm
PRESCRIPTION drugs are killing more Geelong people than illegal drugs such as ice, data shows.
An annual report by notfor-profit organisation Penington Institute has warned Australia is on track to match the overdose crisis in the US, with 2177 lives lost to drug overdose in 2016.
More than 100 people in Geelong and the wider region died from a drug overdose in the four years from 2012-16.
Eighty-four of the deaths were in Geelong, while a further 14 were on the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula, and five in the Barwon region.
Opioids, including the legally available codeine, oxycodone and fentanyl, were the major killers, as well as heroin.
Penington Institute chief executive John Ryan said the figures for Geelong were alarming, with the region recording five more deaths than it did a decade ago.
“The number of drugrelated deaths in Geelong is trending upwards and that is a major concern,” Mr Ryan said.
“An increase of deaths in the years spanning 2012 to 2016 compared with 2002 to 2006 should act as a strong wake-up call.
“From 2001 to 2016 the drug type claiming the most lives in Geelong is unsurprisingly opioids such as codeine, heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl.”
Nationally, the report shows Australians 30-59 are the most likely to suffer a drug overdose death, accounting for seven in 10 overdose deaths.
The number of deaths involving sleeping tablets and anxiety tablets has also doubled in 10 years.
The report shows deaths involving amphetamines (including ice) have grown considerably in the past five years in Australia, killing 1237 people between 2012 and 2016, compared with the 298 deaths between 2002 to 2006.
Heroin deaths also rose from 554 in 2002-06 to 1183 in 2012-16.
The Federal Government this year moved to make drugs containing codeine prescription only in a bid to combat rising numbers of opioid deaths.
Mr Ryan said the Government should go further and review the prescribing rules for the painkiller fentanyl, which had skyrocketed since GPs started prescribing it.
“Spending priorities are wrong. Sixty-five per cent of government investment tackling illicit drugs is spent on law enforcement to reduce supply. Just 22 per cent is spent on treatment, 9.5 per cent on prevention and 2.2 per cent on harm reduction,” he said.