Deaths from drug overdoses have risen to a decade-high in Victoria, according to alarming new figures that advocates say are a “wake-up call” for policy makers.
Drug overdoses have jumped to a decade high in Victoria, renewing advocates’ calls for major changes in support, education, and treatment services.
Overdose deaths increased by nearly 10 per cent – up from 500 deaths in 2021 – and almost 80 per cent of deaths involved multiple drugs.Pharmaceutical drugs continued to be the deadliest substance in Victoria, as they have been since 2013; but the number of overdoses from illegal substances has almost double in the decade to 2022. As have deaths from alcohol overdoses, too.
More than three quarters of the deadly overdoses occurred in metropolitan Melbourne – driven mostly by the rise in heroin fatalities, 80 per cent of which took place in metro Melbourne. Many of Victoria’s peak medical bodies and unions have previously urged the state government to open supervised injecting rooms – also known as an overdose prevention service – in the CBD to limit drug harm.
He said the report was an “unambiguous and dramatic indicator” of the worsening heroin crisis that highlighted the need to “fast track” the introduction of such services as well as pill testing in the CBD.recommended that a second injecting room be opened in the City of Melbourne because of the high number of overdose deaths and drug activity. AThe North Richmond MSIR has saved dozens of lives from overdose since opening in 2018.
“Opponents of injecting rooms say that they send the wrong message, but if injecting rooms send any message, it is: your life is valuable and we want you to be safe and to get the help you need.”
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