Penington Institute report reveals drug overdose deaths continue to rise in Ballarat

The Penington Institute's Australia's Annual Overdose Report revealed in the five years from 2015 to 2019, 41 Ballarat residents died of unintentional overdoses - almost double the 21 unintentional overdose deaths recorded between 2010 and 2014 and a 41 per cent increase on the number 10 years earlier.

In 2019 there were 60 unintentional overdose deaths across western Victoria - more than 30 per cent higher than the previous year.

"There's no doubt about the data: the overdose situation in Ballarat is getting worse. We're not doing enough to protect our people, and we need our governments at all levels to take the lead on this health crisis," said Penington Institute chief executive John Ryan.

"In the five years between 2015 and 2019, 41 people lost their lives to unintentional overdose in Ballarat. That's 41 too many - and 20 more than five years earlier."

Mr Ryan said drug overdose deaths were a hidden epidemic across Australia. "We want this report to be a dose of reality for our leaders and to start a real conversation that brings overdose out of the shadows, keeps people safe and spares families the anguish of losing a loved one."

Mr Ryan said drug and alcohol poisoning, a category overwhelmingly made up of drug overdoses, was the second-leading cause of death for Australians in their 30s and the third-leading cause of death for those in their 20s and 40s.

The rate of unintentional overdose deaths has been higher in regional Victoria than Greater Melbourne every year since 2005, running at 8.7 per 100,000 people compared to 6.1 in Melbourne.

Since 2012, the rate of drug-induced suicides has increased 38.5 per cent in the regions, while the rate in capital cities has increased 13.3 per cent.

The report, which analyses coroner's reports from across the country, found pharmaceutical drugs including opiods, benzodiazepines (sedatives), anti-depressents and anti-convulsants were detected in most overdose deaths. More than half of unintentional overdoses involved three or more drug types, with opiods the most common.

Nationally there were 2227 drug-induced deaths in Australia in 2019, with 1644 of them being unintentional.

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"Overdose carries a stigma that at a community level is hard to overcome. But by ignoring it, overdose deaths continue to surge. This needs to stop now. We need to stop trying to police our way out of drug overdose, and instead tackle it as the health crisis that it is," Mr Ryan said.

Today is International Overdose Awareness Day.

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