A horror script at heart of drug war
THE horrifying extent of Australian’s addiction to prescription pills has been revealed with the drugs claiming more lives than illegal street drugs.
Deaths from pharmaceutical drugs have risen by up to 168 per cent in 10 years, a Federal Government report to be released today shows.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report reveals cannabis is the only drug to be more abused by Australians than pharmaceuticals.
Of the one million Australians who misused pharmaceutical drugs in 2016, 28 per cent did so daily or weekly.
The two main types of prescription drugs in Australia are opioid analgesics such as morphine and codeine prescribed to treat pain and addiction as well as benzodiazepines prescribed to improve sleep and treat stress, such as Valium.
The rate of dispensed prescriptions for opioid analgesics jumped by 24 per cent from 2010-11 to 2014-15.
This was driven by a 60 per cent boom in scripts for oxycodone which jumped from 9800 per 100,000 people in 2010-11 to 15,500 in 2014-15.
The report found people who misuse pharmaceuticals are more likely to suffer mental illness, chronic pain and high levels of psychological distress.
In 2016, there were 663 drug-induced deaths involving benzodiazepines and 550 with ‘other opioids’ such as prescription painkillers like oxycodone, morphine and codeine.
Between 2006 and 2016, the number of deaths where either other opioids or benzodiazepines were present rose by 127 per cent and 168 per cent respectively.
Australian Medical Association NSW president Dr Brad Frankum said the “explosion” in prescriptions for chronic pain drugs when they first flooded the market left a “generation” hooked on them.
“A whole generation of people received oral opioids for chronic pain who just became dependent upon them so that’s why the use went up very quickly because of the availability of oxycodone and those things,” he said.
The report also noted the opioid crisis in the US is partly fuelled by a “culture of unrealistic expectations about pain management” which Dr Frankum said was mirrored in Australia.
Next year people will no longer be able to buy products containing codeine over the counter. Dr Frankum said it was hoped this change would reduce codeine being used as a “gateway” to more potent opioids such as prescription pain pills.
A WHOLE GENERATION OF PEOPLE RECEIVED ORAL OPIOIDS FOR CHRONIC PAIN WHO JUST BECAME DEPENDENT UPON THEM
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