A report measuring opioid, amphetamine, and cocaine-induced deaths from 1997-2016 has revealed that the number of Australians dying from opioid-related overdoses has almost doubled in the last decade.
The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre used data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to determine the amount of opioid-induced deaths per 100,000 people aged 15-64 years old, finding the figure had risen from 3.8 per 100,000 in 2007 to 6.6 per 100,000 in 2016.
While the death toll hasn't reached the heights of the sharp increase in the 1990s, a consistent pattern has emerged in accidental, opioid-related deaths.
In 2016, there were 1,045 recorded overdoses. Of these, 890 were considered an “accidental death”, which continued the decade-long upwards trend.
Deaths attributed to heroin have also increased, more than doubling from 0.9 per 100,000 people in 2007 to 2.2 per 100,000 people in 2016.
Perhaps the most striking rise has been seen in deaths that can be attributed to synthetic opioid analgesics (man-made drugs such as Fentanyl). This figure has risen from 0.11 per 100,000 people in 2007 to 1.34 per 100,000 people in 2016.
The findings mirror those found in other Western countries including the UK and the US, where opioid-induced deaths have been on a steady rise. In the US, for example, there are more deaths attributable to pain medication fentanyl than heroin.