When I presented at the Royal College of General Practitioners Dealing With Addiction Conference in 2018 (GPADD18) I was astounded to learn the stats on overdoses. I was horrified to learn that the majority of road accidents and deaths are not from people who consume substances such as alcohol and recreational drugs (as the media implies). Rather, people dependant on opioids are the ones dying accidentally and causing road accidents.
We need to judge less, help more and live and learn far more swiftly. The next report no doubt will record the increase in suicides and those people will be the patients now stripped suddenly of their medications.
It’s alarming healthcare can’t get this right.
About Penington Institute
Penington Institute connects lived experience and research to improve community safety in relation to drugs.
It is too easy to judge people who use drugs.
Legal or illegal, the misuse of any psychoactive substance impacts us all.
At Penington Institute, we think it’s far more productive to prevent and tackle drug use in a safe, effective and practical way.
Risky behaviours are part of being human.
Penington Institute report
Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2020 reveals that for the fifth year running, more than 2,000 Australians lost their lives to overdose in a single calendar year.
Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2020, released on International Overdose Awareness Day (August 31st), reveals that more than 2,000 Australians have died of overdose for the fifth consecutive year.
Penington Institute CEO John Ryan discusses this and many other important and concerning findings in this video.
Bit of an eye roll here. Look at the root of the problem. Taking medicines with negative interactions, housing and social issues, the impending sense of doom from climate change effects, lack of access to appropriate health care, lack of leadership from our government…
These numbers are a reflection of our broken society, and people who aren’t able to access timely intervention.
So true!