Australia’s annual overdose report has found 2,070 people died from drug overdoses in 2018, with pharmaceuticals being implicated in most deaths.
The report found more than 1,500 of those deaths unintentional, and that opiates are the biggest killer.
There is some good news; the 2018 figures were lower than previous year. But John Ryan, the CEO of the Penington Institute, who wrote the report, says the five year trend is still up.
“I think the great tragedy of what we’ve found in this report is that more than 2,000 Australians have died from overdose in a single year,” he told Hack.
“It far outstrips the road toll and it’s a problem that I don’t think is getting the attention it deserves.”
https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/national-overdose-deaths/12607404