FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Australia Today

Fatal Overdoses in Victoria Have Reached a 17-Year High

The state has seen 952 heroin-related overdoses since 2012.
Image via YouTube

The Coroners Prevention unit has found that heroin overdoses in Victoria have reached a 17-year high, with more than 200 people dying last year.

While preparing the coronial inquest into the accidental heroin overdose of 24-year-old Samuel Morrison in 2016, coroner Audrey Jamieson discovered the startling surge in heroin-related deaths, prompting a report.

In the report Audrey explains, "Each year since 2012 the number of heroin-involved overdose deaths has risen in Victoria, and over time several local government areas in Metropolitan Melbourne have been the location of particularly high numbers of deaths.”

Advertisement

From 2012 to 2017 there have been 952 heroin-related overdoses in the state of Victoria. In more than 50 percent of the heroin-related deaths, the report found the drug had been taken in conjunction with benzodiazepines, an anti-anxiety pharmaceutical drug.

The report indicates that since 2012, the overall number of heroin overdoses has doubled. These numbers are the highest rates since the heroin drought of the late 2000s. The Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association responded to the report by labelling the figures "disturbing."

According to the report, the highest rate of fatal overdoses in Victoria were confined to the City of Yarra, where the majority of heroin-related overdoses were of non-local residents.

“Locally-specific responses to these emerging harms—such as the [injecting room] in North Richmond—may require broader strategic coordination so that lessons learnt from interventions in one area are shared and applied in a timely manner,” said Aubrey in her report.

Martin Foley, The Minister for Mental Health, told The Age that the Victorian government had increased the funding for drug services by 57 per cent since 2014.

This year, the City of Yarra announced that they were opening a supervised injecting room at the North Richmond Community Health centre. The Herald Sun reported that the nurses there faced up to three overdoses a day at the injecting room.

According to The Age, Martin Foley said, “[we are] already seeing positive results with numerous lives saved and many clients seeking advice about treatment for their addiction.”

Worryingly, the state Liberal Party has pledged to shut down the safe injecting room if they win government in November.