Wollongong has been identified as a “hotspot” for fatal drug overdoses after a new report revealed a spike in deaths in recent years.
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The Penington Institute’s Annual Overdose Report 2018 found 90 people died of a drug-related death in Wollongong between 2012 and 2016. That compared to 29 deaths recorded in the city from 2002 to 2006.
The story was similar across the region, with the report revealing 164 deaths to overdose in the Illawarra from 2012 to 2016, up from 80 in the four years to 2006.
Penington Institute CEO John Ryan said the local figures were “alarming”, and required a co-ordinated community response.
“The number of drug-related deaths in the Illawarra is trending upwards and that is a major concern,” he said.
“An increase of 84 deaths in the years spanning 2012 to 2016 compared to 2002 to 2006 should act as a strong wake-up call. Wollongong in particular is one of the concentrated hotspots for overdose.
“It’s not just illegal drugs – most overdose deaths involve pharmaceutical drugs – so more effort needs to go into treatment, and education, at a local community level.”
Read more: Five people die from overdoses every day
Mr Ryan warned that the report, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, showed that Australia was on track to experience a “United States-style drug overdose crisis”. Nationwide, he said, 2177 lives were lost to drug overdose in 2016 and the majority (1704) were accidental deaths.
From 2001 to 2016, the drug type claiming the most lives was opioids such as codeine, heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl.
The report, released ahead of International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31, also revealed that the number of deaths involving sleeping/ anxiety tablets – or benzodiazepines – had doubled in just a decade.
Deaths involving amphetamines (including crystal meth or ‘ice’) had also grown considerably in the five years to 2016. Amphetamines now surpassed alcohol as the third most common substance detected in accidental drug-related deaths.
Most overdoses involved a number of drugs.
Launched in 2014, the Penington Institute is a not-for-profit, Melbourne-based drug and alcohol organisation.
“As we approach International Overdose Awareness Day we encourage people to start having open and honest conversations about their drug use with their healthcare provider,” Mr Ryan said.
“We are also urging the federal government to take a number of measures to reduce drug-related deaths.
“These include increasing drug treatment across Australia as only one in four people who need it are getting treatment; and focusing on drug issues as a health not law enforcement issue.
“We’re also asking for the government to carefully review the prescribing of the painkiller fentanyl, a synthetic opioid which is a growing part of Australia’s overdose crisis.
“We’d also encourage doctors to write more naloxone scripts, which reverses an opioid overdose.”
